Ahead of the T20 World Cup 2026, Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha said that the players will follow the instructions given to them by the government or the Cricket Board regarding the clash against arch-rivals, India.
The high-octane clash between arch-rivals, India and Pakistan, is scheduled to be played on February 15 at the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in Colombo.
Salman told the media before leaving with the team from Lahore to Colombo that the players had been informed about the decision by the team manager on Sunday immediately after the match against Australia.
“We are players contracted to the Board and whatever decision our government and Board have taken all the players are on board with it,” he said.
Pakistan is placed in Group A of the tournament along with teams such as India, Namibia, the Netherlands, and the United States of America (USA).
The skipper then said that the side will aim to win the other group stage matches and seal their berth in the Super 8 stage of the tournament.
“We have three other group matches so we will try to win all of them and qualify for next round,” said Ali Agha.
The “Green Shirts” are scheduled to play the tournament-opening clash against the Netherlands on February 7 at the Sinhalese Sports Club Cricket Ground in Sri Lanka. They will then lock horns against the USA on February 10 at the same venue.
Their third clash is against the “Men in Blue”. Pakistan will face Namibia in its last group stage match on February 18.
Earlier, the International Cricket Council (ICC) had pushed Bangladesh out of the tournament after its refusal to play all their World Cup matches in India. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) had asked ICC to move all of their matches outside India, following the release of its pacer Mustafizur Rahman from the squad of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026.
Pakistan`s squad for the T20 World Cup 2026
Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Nawaz, Babar Azam, Sahibzada Farhan (WK), Salman Ali Agha (C), Faheem Ashraf, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Abrar Ahmed, Usman Khan (WK), Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Mirza, Khawaja Nafay (Wk), Usman Tariq.
(With PTI Inputs)
