Archive February 1, 2026

Pakistan’s cricket team has been cleared to participate in the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 but will not play its game against India, the government of Pakistan says.

“The Pakistan cricket team shall not take the field in the match scheduled on 15th February 2026 against India,” its statement said on Sunday.

The statement did not mention why Pakistan would not play the group match.

Pakistan’s participation in the tournament was thrown into uncertainty after Bangladesh were ousted by the International Cricket Council (ICC) over a logistical deadlock.

The ICC kicked Bangladesh out of the World Cup and replaced them with Scotland because of an impasse over security concerns that the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) had raised about playing in India.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) swiftly threw its weight behind Bangladesh and said it will not make a “final decision” this coming week on its team’s participation in the monthlong tournament, which begins on Saturday.

PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi met Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif last week to discuss the issue but did not clarify whether Pakistan would travel to the tournament.

“It was agreed that the final decision will be taken either on Friday or next Monday,” Naqvi, who is also Pakistan’s interior minister, said.

All of Pakistan’s World Cup matches have been scheduled in Sri Lanka because of the fraught relations between New Delhi and Islamabad.

After Bangladesh’s expulsion, the ICC was accused of practising “double standards” in its extraordinary move to oust a full member nation on the basis of a logistical deadlock.

“You can’t have double standards,” Naqvi said.

“You can’t say for one country [India] they can do whatever they want and for the others to have to do the complete opposite. That’s why we’ve taken this stand and made clear Bangladesh have had an injustice done to them. They should play in the World Cup. They are a major stakeholder in cricket.”

Former Pakistan wicketkeeper batter Kamran Akmal backed the decision.

“Enough is enough, we had to take this decision,” Akmal told AFP. “India has been frequently mixing politics with sports and damaging the spirit of the game, so our government has taken a strong decision which should be backed.’

The T20 World Cup, cohosted by India and Sri Lanka, features 20 nations.

Pakistan are drawn in Group A along with India, Namibia, the Netherlands and United States and are playing all their matches in Sri Lanka. Pakistan’s first match on Saturday is against the Netherlands at the Sinhalese Sports Club Cricket Ground in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo.

If Pakistan boycott their match against India, they will forfeit two points.

Their refusal to play against India – who they have already played at neutral venues in Sri Lanka – will have severe financial implications on the tournament’s biggest drawcard.

Pakistan and India have not played in any bilateral cricket since 2012 and only face each other in multi-nation events.

Under a deal signed last year, India and Pakistan agreed not to travel to each other’s countries in cases where either hosts an ICC event, instead playing at neutral venues.

The international airport in Khartoum has received its first scheduled commercial flight in more than two years as the Sudanese government continues to assert its control over Sudan’s capital city after years of fighting.

The Sudan Airways flight travelled to Khartoum from the Red Sea city of Port Sudan on Sunday, carrying dozens of passengers.

Reporting from near the runway where the flight had landed, Al Jazeera’s Taher Almardi described scenes of jubilation following the arrival of the plane.

He said the reopening of the airport will help connect the capital to other regions in Sudan, with officials saying the facility is now ready to welcome as many as four flights daily.

Sudan Airways said in a statement that the flight, which was announced on Saturday with ticket prices starting at $50, “reflects the return of spirit and the continuation of the connection between the sons of the nation”.

The Sudanese military announced regaining full control of the capital from its rival, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group, in March of last year.

Last month, Sudan’s army-aligned authorities moved the government’s headquarters back to Khartoum from their wartime capital of Port Sudan, which has also housed the country’s international airport since the early days of the war that began in April 2023.

Khartoum International Airport has come under repeated attacks, including an RSF drone assault in October that Sudanese officials said was intercepted.

On October 22, the airport said it had received a Badr Airlines flight, which was not pre-announced. But no further operations of commercial flights resumed until Sunday.

The war started as two top generals – Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the leader of the military, and Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo, the RSF chief – and their forces clashed for power and control over Sudan’s resources.

The fighting has ravaged towns and cities across Sudan, killing tens of thousands of people and forcing millions of others from their homes.

Violence continues to rage in central and western Sudan, particularly in Darfur, where the war has led to mass displacement and a humanitarian crisis.

“In Darfur today, reaching a single child can take days of negotiation, security clearances, and travel across sand roads under shifting frontlines,” Eva Hinds, spokesperson for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said in a statement on Friday.