Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief and Minister of Interior in the Pakistan government, Mohsin Naqvi, slammed the International Cricket Council (ICC) for its treatment of the Bangladesh cricket team and the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB). Speaking with the media in Lahore on January 24 (Saturday), Naqvi termed the ICC’s handling of Bangladesh’s request to move their T20 World Cup 2026 matches away from India to Sri Lanka as unfair.
Naqvi, who still has the Asia Cup 2025 trophy with him—having not presented it to the Indian team—also threatened that Pakistan could pull out of the T20 World Cup 2026 as well. This would be in support of Bangladesh, who have boycotted the ICC’s biggest T20 event after their requests were not heeded.
What did Mohsin Naqvi say about Bangladesh’s removal from T20 World Cup 2026?
Naqvi, as quoted by Pakistan’s Dawn, said, “Bangladesh has been treated unfairly. I said the same in the board meeting of the ICC. You cannot have double standards, where one country can make whatever decision whenever and do the total opposite for another country.”
“That is why we have taken the stand that Bangladesh is being treated unfairly and should be allowed to play the World Cup in any case. They are a major stakeholder and this injustice should not be done,” added the PCB chief.
Will Pakistan too boycott T20 World Cup 2026?
Responding to a question about whether Pakistan were thinking about a boycott, following in the footsteps of Bangladesh, Naqvi said that they were ‘waiting for the Prime Minister to return’ before reaching any decision.
However, he said that if the Pakistan government did decide to boycott, the ICC will be left scrambling in search of the 22nd team.
“If the Pakistan government decides, we will also pull out of the T20 World Cup. Let ICC then look for a 22nd team,” he said.
Which will be the 22nd team at T20 World Cup 2026?
If the ICC has decided to go with Scotland as the team to replace Bangladesh based on the ICC T20I rankings, they would likely go the same way for replacing Pakistan. Uganda, ranked 21st, are the best-ranked side who have failed to qualify for the World Cup and thus are likely to replace Pakistan, if it comes to that.