Pakistan has agreed to play the match against India in the T20 World Cup, state-run Pakistan TV reported on Monday night.

In a post on the social media platform X, the broadcaster said: “Pakistan has agreed to play the T20 World Cup match against India on February 15, following requests from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, with India accepting Pakistan’s preconditions”.

The development came shortly after Sri Lanka’s President Anura Kumara Dissanayake urged Pakistan to play its T20 World Cup clash against India. According to the Prime Minister’s Office, he made the remarks during a phone call with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

“Pakistan fully supported the Sri Lankan cricket during the terrorism in Sri Lanka,” he was quoted as saying.

“Pakistan gave priority to its long-standing relations with Sri Lanka above all else, and the Pakistani cricket team continued to tour the country to play cricket despite terrorism,” Dissanayake said.

The premier welcomed the Sri Lankan president’s sentiments and noted how Colombo also stood with Islamabad during difficult times and kept cricket going in Pakistan.

“Recently, the Sri Lankan team took an unforgettable step for the Pakistani nation and cricket fans by not cancelling the tour of Pakistan,” PM Shehbaz was quoted as saying.

According to the statement, PM Shehbaz said he would inform the Sri Lankan president about a “final decision” regarding the Pak-India match after consultations.

The government had given the cricket team the nod to participate in the T20 World Cup 2026, but said the Green Shirts would not play their match with arch-rivals India, scheduled to be held in Colombo.

The decision had come after Bangladesh were replaced by Scotland in the tournament, following their refusal to tour India over safety concerns in the wake of soured political relations between the Asian neighbours.

Subsequently, Sri Lanka’s cricket board asked Pakistan to reconsider the decision to boycott the match; Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) told the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) that a boycott would result in a financial hit and also hurt the island’s tourism industry, which is still recovering from the 2022 economic meltdown.

On Sunday, a delegation from the International Cricket Council (ICC) arrived in the country and held meetings with PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi on the team’s participation in the match against India.

Skipper Salman Agha has stated that if Pakistan were to face India in a semi-final or final, they would again consult the government.

It should be mentioned that Pakistan and India have not played bilateral cricket for more than a decade, and meet only in global or regional tournaments.

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USA leg-spinner Mohammad Mohsin said on Monday that “the pressure will be on Pakistan” when the teams lock horns in the T20 World Cup again, two years after the Americans inflicted a shock defeat on the former champions.

But Pakistan quick bowler Salman Mirza insisted the stunning super over defeat in Dallas in the 2024 T20 World Cup would be firmly “in the past” when the two clash in Colombo on Tuesday.

The USA team gave tournament favourites India a big scare in their opening match in Mumbai, reducing them to 77-6 at one point, with Mohsin taking a wicket on his T20 World Cup debut, before losing by 29 runs.

They are confident they can repeat their stunning upset of two years ago in the Group A encounter.

“The pressure of losing the last game will be on Pakistan,” said Mohsin.

Born and brought up playing cricket in Pakistan, Mohsin migrated to the US five years ago and warned that the USA was a better team now than two years ago.

“I have played with most of the players in this Pakistan team, so I have given my input to the team and we are a more skilled and confident team.”

Mirza was confident the last defeat would not prey on the Pakistan players’ minds.

“Winning and losing are part of the game; it happens in cricket,” Mirza said. “The defeat against the USA is now past and behind us.”

Pakistan, the 2009 champions, were close to suffering another shock in their opening match against the Netherlands on Saturday.

Pakistan were staring at defeat with 29 runs needed in the last two overs but all-rounder Faheem Ashraf’s big hitting bailed them out.

Pakistan cannot afford any slip-ups if they are to qualify for the super eight stage as one of the top two teams in Group A after saying they would not play India on February 15.

Defeat to the USA two years ago saw them fail to get out of the group.

Mirza admitted the smaller teams were dangerous opponents.

“Until now, all the matches are close and no team is small or big in this format,” said Mirza, who took 3-24 against the Netherlands.

Pakistan may bring back experienced batsman Fakhar Zaman to replace Babar Azam, who has been criticised for slow scoring.

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Zimbabwe returned to the T20 World Cup in emphatic fashion on Monday, strolling to an eight-wicket win over Oman at Colombo’s Sinhalese Sports Club.

In their first T20 World Cup since 2022, Zimbabwe skittled Oman for 103 before knocking off the runs with 39 balls to spare.

Brian Bennett was unbeaten on 48 and Brendan Taylor, 40, who played in the first T20 World Cup in 2007, made 31 before retiring hurt.

Zimbabwe’s quick bowling twin towers Richard Ngarava and Blessing Muzarabani did the early damage, reducing Oman to 27-5 with none of their top order managing to get into double figures.

“We have to take it game by game and we are very happy with the win,” said Muzarabani, who won the player-of-the-match award.

“I am just coming from a back injury and didn’t want to really push it, so I shortened my run a bit. There was some good bounce on the pitch and I thought we used the conditions well.”

A face-saving 42-run stand for the sixth wicket between Sufyan Mehmood and Vinayak Shukla gave Oman’s total some respectability.

Ngarava finished with 3-17 and Muzarabani 3-16. Brad Evans provided the perfect first-change foil, hitting a nagging line and length to take 3-18.

Shukla top-scored for Oman with 28 and Mehmood got 25.

When the chase started, Bennett and Tadiwanashe Marumani raced to 30 off 19 deliveries before two wickets brought Taylor to the crease.

The veteran showed some discomfort running between the wickets and retired hurt with victory four runs away, leaving skipper Sikandar Raza to finish the job with a boundary.

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