Former PCB secretary questions Board's 'purpose' for Pakistan's potential T20 World Cup pull out
Pakistan have deferred their decision on participating in the T20 World Cup 2026 after Bangladesh were removed from the tournament following the latter's refusal to travel to India.
Former Pakistan players and ex-Pakistan Cricket Board officials have questioned their board over a potential pullout from the T20 World Cup 2026 in support of Bangladesh.
Pakistan chairman Mohsin Naqvi had threatened to withdraw from the tournament after the ICC replaced Bangladesh with Scotland following the Bangladesh Cricket Board's refusal to send the team to India for the tournament. After meeting Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Naqvi stated that the PCB has deferred its decision to travel to India and would finalise on the matter on coming Friday or Monday.
Former PCB secretary Arif Ali Abbasi has questioned the board's purpose of thinking about a pullout. "I can understand Pakistan supporting Bangladesh, but what purpose will PCB achieve by not sending its team apart from spoiling relations with the International Cricket Council and member boards," Abbasi said.
He then highlighted that a pull-out will hamper Sri Lanka commercially, which would hurt their relations with them. "What about our relations with Sri Lanka?. Obviously, Sri Lanka will suffer losses if Pakistan doesn't go as all our matches are in Sri Lanka, including matches with India," he said.
Former PCB chairman and ex selector give opinions
Former PCB chairman Khalid Mahmood and former Test player Mohsin Khan, who has also served as chief selector and head coach, also gave their opinions on the matter. "We have to remember that, except for Pakistan, no other cricket board supported the Bangladesh demand to move matches from India. I can understand the stance taken by the Bangladesh board, but it is also a fact that no one supported them in the ICC meeting," Mahmood said.
"We have issues with India, but we are playing all our matches in Sri Lanka," Khan said, adding, "So then on what grounds will the PCB not send its team to the World Cup? It will be bad for our cricket," he cautioned.
Ex-Pakistan skippers Inzamam ul Haq and Muhammad Yousuf cautioned that Pakistan must keep everything in mind while making a final call.
"I personally would like to see Pakistan compete in the World Cup. We have some good players, and our cricket needs to see our team doing well in big events," Inzamam said.
Haroon Rasheed, ex-Test batter, believed Pakistan would take part in the World Cup as there was not enough reason to pull out. "We supported Bangladesh, which is a good thing. We took a principled stance but now is also the time to look at our own cricket interests," he said.