India will still travel to Sri Lanka for their group stage match against Pakistan on February 15, even though Pakistan has decided not to play the game.
Sources from the Board of Control for Cricket in India said the Indian team will follow all rules set by the International Cricket Council, reports ANI. The team will reach Colombo and wait for the match referee to take the final decision.
India will train as planned. The team will attend the official press conference. Players will arrive at the SSC Cricket Ground on time and remain there until the match is officially called off. The Indian team will complete every match day duty as required by ICC protocol.
Pakistan has decided to boycott the group stage match against India in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. The match is scheduled for February 15.
The Pakistan government confirmed the move in a post on X. It said the Pakistan team will not take the field against India. The post allowed Pakistan to play the tournament but clearly stated that the match against India would be skipped.
Pakistan had already announced its squad for the World Cup last month. The tournament will be hosted by India and Sri Lanka.
India enter the World Cup in strong form. They recently won a five match T20I series against New Zealand by four games to one.
Pakistan will also be entering the tournament having won the T20I series at home against Australia by 3-0.
The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup will begin on February 7. In January, the ICC removed Bangladesh from the tournament after the Bangladesh Cricket Board refused to play in India due to security concerns, despite security threats.
The ICC did not change the match schedule and later named Scotland as Bangladesh’s replacement. Scotland were the highest ranked team outside the original qualification list.
India are placed in Group A along with Namibia, the Netherlands, the USA and Pakistan.
India squad for ICC Men’s 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 Men’s 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.
