Salman Ali Agha - (Source: X.com)
On Saturday, January 31, Pakistan and Australia met for the 2nd T20I at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. The Men in Green are fresh off a win after 22 run victory over the visitors in the curtain-raiser game. Therefore, for the 2nd T20I, the Salman Ali Agha-led side made three changes to their side.
During the toss, Pakistan won the coin flip and opted to bat first. However, Salman Ali Agha accidentally unfoiled PCB head Mohsin Naqvi’s drama and confirmed Pakistan’s participation in the T20 World Cup 2026.
Agha confirms preparations for the T20 World Cup 2026 at the At toss
At the toss, Agha talked about the surface in Lahore, which is actually slow and stated that they want to prepare for Sri Lanka.
“Yes, that's what we are thinking. These kinds of surfaces we will get in Sri Lanka. We want to be well prepared for that,” remarked Agha when asked about the surface.
For the unversed, Pakistan will play all of their T20 World Cup 2026 matches in Sri Lanka, starting from February 7 in Colombo. However, at present, the PCB has not confirmed Pakistan’s participation for the upcoming event.
What is the matter, and why is Pakistan fighting with the ICC?
It all started with Bangladesh’s issue with their matches in India. The tensions escalated between the two countries after the recent killing of Hindus in Bangladesh. The mishaps led to an uproar in India, following which Mustafizur Rahman, who was bought by KKR for IPL 2026, was released by the franchise.
In reply, BCB took the opportunity to hold ICC hostage and put a demand to shift their games outside India, citing security reasons. The ICC adhered to the request and followed its protocols by sending a delegate to Dhaka. After multiple rounds of talks and the security team’s assessment of no threat in India, the Jay Shah-led council handed a 24-hour deadline to Bangladesh to confirm travel to India or pull out.
Surprisingly, the BCB chose the latter as they rode on PCB’s backing, who too vowed to support Bangladesh if ICC kicks them out of the tournament. Now, since Scotland has officially replaced The Tigers, PCB also felt the pressure to confirm its stance.
In the latest events, Mohsin Naqvi met with the Pakistan PM and confirmed that a decision will be taken on Monday, February 2, after the second round of talks with the PM.
Flight tickets also hint at PCB’s decision
Recently, a report also floated on social media stating that the Pakistan team will travel to Sri Lanka with the Australian side. It also added that the PCB has booked flight tickets for the same, and he is just pretending to boycott the upcoming event to trouble the ICC.
Nonetheless, talking about the ongoing match, at the time of writing this article, Pakistan are going strong and have put 74/2 on the board after 6.3 overs. Salman Ali Agha is going strong and put 45 (20).
