Pakistan's World Cup begins with no margin for error

Danyal Rasool (Cricinfo)

There is only one place to start. The build-up to the 2026 T20 World Cup has been dominated not by which games to look forward to, but one specific game that Pakistan will not be playing.

After the Pakistan government announced the team would not take the field for their game against India on February 15, cricket's most lucrative fixture, the ICC has been plunged into one of the gravest crises in its history.

That situation is fluid, but as things stand, it means Pakistan will start their tournament with a two-point deficit and a virtually insurmountable net run-rate to kick things off.

It leaves them fairly clear-headed about the task they're faced with if they are to qualify for the next round – they must beat Netherlands, USA and Namibia, which would almost certainly get the job done.

On paper, they are fancied to do just that. They have spent the better part of last year playing an inordinate amount of T20I cricket, and even if suspicions about the quality of the sides they faced lingered, they proved more than a match for far superior sides to those three.

However, Pakistan will be well aware of the last time they entered a T20 World Cup against a heavily fancied opponent, a memory that will only be sharpened when they take on USA on February 10.

On that front, Pakistan have some reputation salvaging to do. Their brand of capricious brilliance which made them so dangerous at ICC tournaments has given way of late to meek predictability; they have exited the last three men's ICC tournaments in the first round, including at the last T20 World Cup with that loss to USA.

The two T20 World Cups before that saw them reach the final and the semi-final, though with T20 cricket having evolved since then, there are concerns that Pakistan may have been left behind.

That is crystallised in their prevarication over Babar Azam's involvement within the set-up, who lost his place in the side before inexplicably regaining it just in time for the World Cup, even as he endured a horror BBL last month.

Travel advantage

They play all their games in Sri Lanka, which should be an advantage as it cuts out travel fatigue. Last month they played a three-match T20I series there to acclimatise, even though one game was washed out and another heavily affected by rain. February in Colombo is less rainy, though with their heavy net run rate dent owing to that India forfeit, any washouts in games they need to win has the potential to complicate their path ahead.

But Pakistan have played lots of T20I cricket, and they have won lots of T20I matches. If they can keep that run up for another three weeks, that, really, is all it might take.

Best XI

1 Saim Ayub 2 Sahibzada Farhan 3 Salman Ali Agha (capt) 4 Fakhar Zaman 5 Usman Khan (wk) 6 Shadab Khan 7 Mohammad Nawaz 8 Shaheen Afridi 9 Abrar Ahmed 10 Salman Mirza 11 Naseem Shah.

Remaining squad: Babar Azam, Usman Tariq Faheem Ashraf, Khawaja Nafay.

Babar's place in Pakistan's best XI remains up for debate following an indifferent series against Australia. He started all three games, though the question of whether he did enough to make the case for a World Cup start is far from settled.

Group fixtures

vs Netherlands, February 7, Colombo

vs USA, February 10, Colombo

vs Namibia, February 18, Colombo

– Cricinfo