The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has left fans both excited and puzzled after offering pre-orders for the official Pakistan cricket jersey for the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup without revealing the design and before making a final decision on the national side’s participation.
Pakistan’s participation in the World Cup remains uncertain as PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi maintains that a final decision in this regard would be announced Friday or early next week. The lack of clarity stems from the country’s principled stance in support for the Bangladeshi team, which the International Cricket Council (ICC) replaced with Scotland after the former’s refusal to travel to India due to security concerns.
While Pakistan is also exploring a wide range of protest options, including a potential boycott of the Feb 15 match against India, netizens are questioning the logic of pre-ordering the jersey without knowing if the team would actually be playing the World Cup, besides not knowing what the jersey even looks like.
“Jersey reveal world cup k baad hogi [the jersey will be revealed after the World Cup],” wrote one user while another said, “Reveal at least jersey first or either offer extreme discounted price, then it makes sense to pre-order, otherwise why would anyone order before seeing the jersey.”
Others wrote, “Oh bhie design kaha ha [where is the design?]” and “Aby jersey reveal tou kardo bhai phele [come on, reveal the jersey first].”
“So, we are playing the World Cup?” commented one user. Another asked, “Bhai agar team ne khelna he nahi tou kya faida [what’s the point if the team isn’t going to play]?”
One fan even joked, “Agar shirt aney se pehle team bahir hogaye to [what if the team is knocked out before the shirt even arrives] ?”
While deliveries will start from February 1, the new jersey offers customisable variants with eight different sizes.
Pakistan are scheduled to open their T20 World Cup campaign against the Netherlands on February 7 in Colombo.
The PCB has named a 15-member squad for the tournament, led by Salman Ali Agha, and featuring Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Khawaja Mohammad Nafay, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Salman Mirza, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan and Usman Tariq.