The 2026 T20 World Cup begins in two weeks but the tournament is miles away from where it hoped it would be at this point.
On Saturday, the International Cricket Council took the drastic step of removing Bangladesh from the line-up after the Tigers remained opposed to travelling to India citing security concerns.
The impasse began when the Indian cricket board decided to remove Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman from the Kolkata Knight Riders squad for the 2026 IPL due to worsening political relations between the neighbouring countries, especially after ousted Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India last year.
Bangladesh moved quickly to ban the broadcast of IPL in the country and directed the cricket board to demand that its T20 World Cup matches be shifted to co-hosts Sri Lanka; the Tigers were scheduled to play all their matches in Kolkata and Mumbai.
However, after multiple rounds of meetings between the ICC and Bangladesh cricket board, the Tigers' request was not accommodated and governing body removed the team from the World Cup roster, citing insufficient evidence of threat to the security of the team or fans.
Scotland replaced Bangladesh at the T20 World Cup as the next highest-ranked team not to qualify for the tournament.
The saga, however, is far from over with Pakistan now considering pulling out of the T20 World Cup.
Will Pakistan pull out of the T20 World Cup?
Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Mohsin Naqvi has been a vocal supporter of Bangladesh during the crisis, pointing to past instances of India getting similar request for schedule changes approved at ICC tournaments.
On Saturday, Naqvi said Bangladesh were not treated fairly and said there seemed to be different set of rules for different teams.
He also said that Pakistan's government will take a final call on whether the national team participates in the upcoming tournament.
“You can't have double standards. Injustice has been done to Bangladesh. They should play in the World Cup, they are a major stakeholder in cricket,” Naqvi said.
“If the government of Pakistan says we should not play, then the ICC can bring in a 22nd team [after Scotland].
“The Prime Minister is not in the country right now. When he returns, we will give our final decision. It's the government's decision. For us, the government of Pakistan is bigger than the ICC.”
Pakistan are scheduled to play all their matches in Sri Lanka owing to an existing policy for games against India where both teams do not visit either country for cricket matches.
Who would replace Pakistan?
If Pakistan go ahead and pull out of the World Cup, then Uganda will replace the team in green as the next highest-ranked team not among the 20 who will be participating in the tournament.
Uganda were part of the 2024 T20 World Cup where they registered one victory.
What are the implications?
Bangladesh cricket is facing a substantial financial hit after being excluded from the World Cup.
During the last tournament, Bangladesh made it to the Super Eight stage. There, teams advancing past the opening stage received $382,500. Also, teams received an additional $31,000 for each match won.
The winners of the tournament - India - received close to $2.5m, with runners-up South Africa banking approximately $1.3m.
Apart from tournament prize money, cricket boards have substantial funds tied up with broadcast deals that are also incumbent upon participation at ICC tournaments.
Failure to participate in tournaments could constitute as breach of contract and have a cascading effect on commercial deals at multiple levels and hit the cricket structure all the way to the grassroots.
Many cricket boards apart from major ones like India, England and Australia rely heavily on ICC funding and tournament participation to bankroll the game in their region.
The ramifications for Pakistan could be even greater as their request for change of venues to outside India had already been accommodated, and a withdrawal could be seen as unilateral decision.
It would lead to a major breakdown in the functioning of multi-nation international cricket.
