T20 World Cup 2026: Suryakumar Yadav and Team India will take THIS big step even with Pakistan boycotting match, they have decided…
The Pakistan cricket team have been instructed to forfeit their ICC T20 World Cup 2026 match vs Team India set to take place at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on February 15. It means that Suryakumar Yadav’s side will get ‘walkover’ in their Group A match against Pakistan and garner two points from this clash as well.
However, to secure these two points, Team India and their captain Suryakumar Yadav will need to be present at the venue of the Group A match – Colombo – on February 15, even if Pakistan Government have made it clear that their national team will not be stepping on the field.
The defending champions will be following all protocols in relation of their T20 World Cup 2026 match which includes travelling to Colombo, taking part in pre-match practice sessions, Suryakumar Yadav addressing the pre-match press conference on February 14 and then turning up at the match venue as well.
“Team India will travel to Sri Lanka and follow ICC protocol. They will practice as per schedule, do a press conference and reach the stadium according to time and wait for the match referee to call off the match,” a BCCI source was quoted as saying by ANI news agency.
#WATCH | On Pakistan to boycott its match against India in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor says, “It is pretty disgraceful that sport has been politicised in this way on both sides, frankly. I don’t think that Mustafizur (Bangladeshi cricketer… pic.twitter.com/wt3wgwXZPQ
— ANI (@ANI) February 2, 2026
The Pakistan government said in a post on ‘X’ that the Pakistan Team ‘shall not take the field’ in the match against India. Pakistan announced their squad last month for the T20 World Cup 2026, which is being hosted by India and Sri Lanka.
“The Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan grants approval to the Pakistan Cricket Team to participate in the ICC World T20 2026; however, the Pakistan Cricket Team shall not take the field in the match scheduled on 15th February 2026 against India,” said the post by the Government of Pakistan.
The Pakistan government did not give any reason for its decision not to play against India. Pakistan have a terrible record against India in the ICC T20 World Cups. The two teams have played eight times, with the record standing at 7-1 in India’s favour.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) had last month announced that Scotland will replace Bangladesh in the T20 World Cup 2026 after the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) refused to participate in the tournament per the match schedule. The announcement came after the ICC, in the absence of any credible or verifiable security threat to the Bangladesh national team in India, rejected the BCB’s demand to move their Group C matches from India to Sri Lanka, in the 20-team tournament to be played from February 7 to March 8.
Team India squad for ICC T20 World Cup 2026
Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Rinku Singh.
Pakistan squad for ICC T20 World Cup 2026
Salman Ali Agha (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Khawaja Mohammad Nafay (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Salman Mirza, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan (wicketkeeper), Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan, Usman Tariq.