The banter around Pakistan’s potential pull-out from the T20 World Cup has only grown louder. After Iceland, Uganda have now joined the queue, cheekily offering to step in if a slot opens up in the global tournament. Uganda Cricket’s official X account joined the fun on Thursday, January 29, with a tongue-in-cheek post declaring their readiness.

“If a T20 World Cup seat opens, Uganda is ready — packed and padded. Passports warm (not ice). No bakers leaving ovens or ships U-turning. Heat, noise, pressure? We’ll bring the bold kit,” Uganda Cricket wrote.

The humour comes amid reports that Pakistan are weighing their participation in the T20 World Cup in a show of solidarity with Bangladesh, who have already pulled out of the tournament. Bangladesh decided to boycott the 2026 edition after the International Cricket Council rejected their request to move matches out of India and into Sri Lanka, citing insufficient security concerns.

Uganda are not the first to poke fun at the situation. Earlier, Iceland Cricket went viral after joking that they were ready to replace Pakistan — provided they were informed in advance. The post racked up more than half a million impressions, with the account even sharing screenshots of rising flight prices to Colombo in a continued attempt to bait the ICC.

The tweet by Iceland cricket got over half a million impression, setting off a chain reaction. Banter continued as the account put up the rising prices of the flight tickets to Colombo, hoping for a reaction from the ICC.

The gag peaked when Iceland “withdrew” as well, explaining that their players were amateurs with full-time jobs.

“Our players are from all walks of life and cannot simply drop their occupations to fly halfway around the world,” the account said, citing bakers, ship captains and bankers among their squad.

“Our loss is likely Uganda’s gain,” the post concluded.

The T20 World Cup begins on February 7 and will not have the participation of Bangladesh for the first time in the competition’s history. The team has pulled out of the tournament after the International Cricket Council refused to switch the team’s venue from India to Sri Lanka.

Bangladesh had cited security concerns about travelling to India in the aftermath of the Mustafixur Rahman incident. However, ICC rejected their request, stating that the threat levels were not high enough to change the venues.

– Ends

Published By:

Kingshuk Kusari

Published On:

Jan 30, 2026

Tune In