Pakistan and the Pakistan Cricket Board have been hogging the headlines over the last week with T20 World Cup 2026 being the context. Earlier, it was Bangladesh who had a long stand-off with the International Cricket Council, eventually being replaced by Scotland at the showpiece event. Bangladesh's exit hadn't gone down well with Pakistan who gave their neighbours strong support against ICC and India.
Now, latest reports suggest that Pakistan will confirm their participation for the T20 World Cup sooner than later. PCB boss Mohsin Naqvi had earlier given Wednesday (January 28) as a date for giving Pakistan's final decision after meeting PM Shebaz Sharif. However, that day ended with Naqvi hinting at January 30 or February 1 as the possible dates for the decision.
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However, reports now say that PCB are likely to give their participation confirmation possibly by Friday evening. Coincidentally, the ICC announced the match officials for all games of T20 World Cup 2026, including the marquee India-Pakistan clash scheduled for February 15. Kumar Dharmasena and Richard Illingworth will be the on-field umpires for this rivalry clash.
Apart from their rhetoric stance, Pakistan have no legal grounds to boycott the T20 World Cup, whether partially or completely. There is also a plethora of financial and administrative penalties that PCB could incur if they take a boycott stance. Sources close to the PCB also hint at the participation announcement coming out soon.
ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 list of match officials
Match referees: Dean Cosker, David Gilbert, Ranjan Madugalle, Andrew Pycroft, Richie Richardson and Javagal Srinath.
Umpires: Roland Black, Chris Brown, Kumar Dharmasena, Chris Gaffney, Adrian Holdstock, Richard Illingworth, Richard Kettleborough, Wayne Knights, Donovan Koch, Jayaraman Madangopal, Nitin Menon, Sam Nogajski, KNA Padmanabhan, Allahuddin Palekar, Ahsan Raza, Leslie Reifer, Paul Reiffel, Langton Rusere, Sharfuddaula Ibne Shahid, Ghazi Sohail, Rod Tucker, Alex Wharf, Ravindra Wimalasiri and Asif Yaqub.
