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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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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Pakistan Super League franchise (PSL) Multan Sultans on Monday was sold to Walee Technologies for a record Rs2.45 billion ahead of the tournament’s 11th edition.

At the auction in Lahore, show host Fakhr-i-Alam informed bidders that the winning bid would also cover the annual fee to maintain ownership of the team for the next 10 years.

Speaking at the auction ceremony, the new owner of the team announced that they would be changing the name to Rawalpindi.

“Are you ready for a surprise? We will be going for Rawalpindi!” announced the company’s chief executive officer, Ahsan Tahir.

Speaking at the ceremony, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Mohsin Naqvi congratulated Walee Technologies on their successful bid and expressed gratitude to former board chairman Najam Sethi for his vision for the Multan Sultans franchise.

“This Multan Sultans was created by Najam Sethi sahib and the person who started this journey; we are so pleased he is with us today,” Naqvi said, inviting Sethi onto the stage.

In his remarks, Sethi said, “I’m obviously delighted to be here; this is the culmination of a dream come true.

“I’m obviously over the moon that it’s come through under Mohsin Naqvi, who is a dear, dear friend of mine,” he said.

Sethi hailed the winning bid as a “great moment for Pakistan cricket”, adding that Naqvi would give good news “beyond PSL” over the coming days.

Later, at a press conference with representatives from Walee Technologies, Naqvi said that the future of the Multan Sultans brand would have to be considered.

“I cannot ask the person paying Rs2.45bn to keep the name Multan Sultans,” he said.

“When we discussed auctioning Multan Sultans, we planned to keep it for one or two years. But there was a good environment in the market and we were already auctioning five or six teams,” he said.

The PCB chief noted that there were concerns, given the brand’s age and the possibility of damage to its reputation.

“For me, Multan Sultans is very close to my heart, so we will come up with a solution,” Naqvi said.

When asked about the criteria for setting the opening bid at Rs1.82bn, he replied that it was the second-highest bid for the Sialkot team, which was sold for Rs1.85bn.

To a question about ongoing meetings with a delegation from the International Cricket Council (ICC) over Pakistan’s boycott of the match with India in the T20 World Cup, Naqvi replied, “The issue was Bangladesh’s. We did not want to let their point of view go; they are our brothers and you saw the situation.

“Things are happening, which is why I won’t say much, but the ICC and the Bangladesh board are in that phase where if I say anything, it won’t be right. We’ll update you once we receive information,” the PCB chief said.

Naqvi said that “guests need to be respected” when asked about the attitude of the visiting ICC delegation.

Walee Technologies is a global company specialising in projects in the media, finance and technology sectors, according to their website, which added that the company had also earlier acquired PSL livestreaming rights.

The franchise, started in 2017 under the name Multan Sultans, competed in eight consecutive editions of the PSL, winning the league in 2021.

Last November, the franchise was left ownerless after the PCB did not extend a renewal offer to owner Ali Khan Tareen. The PCB then announced it would take over the franchise for the upcoming tournament.

Bids were invited on January 14 and their technical evaluation was completed by February 3.

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