THE BANGLADESH CRICKET BOARD on Thursday threw the ball back in the International Cricket Council’s court regarding its participation in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, staying firm on its refusal to travel to India over security concerns.
BCB’s stance comes a day after Bangladesh were told by the ICC that they would be replaced (by Scotland) at the upcoming T20 World Cup if they continued to refuse to play in India.
“Let me tell you clearly. It is the government’s decision not to play in India due to security concerns,” Bangladesh’s sports adviser Asif Nazrul said on Thursday. The BCB said it would keep communicating with the ICC on the issue.
“The security threat is not a theory. It is a real incident,” Nazrul said, referencing Mustafizur Rahman’s removal from the IPL. “The BCCI bowed down to pressure from fundamental groups, and kicked him out of their tournament.
“The ICC tournament is being held in India where the BCCI can’t give security to one of our players. It will be the responsibility of their security agencies. How can we be convinced that they can provide security to our cricketers, fans and journalists?
“The ICC hasn’t even tried to convince us. They only talked about their standard security plan, rather than address our specific grievance. The India government didn’t even try to convince us. They didn’t call the Mustafiz incident an isolated incident. They didn’t say sorry about the Mustafiz incident, or even try to communicate with us. So there’s no scope for changing our decision. We didn’t get justice from the ICC, they are still not allowing us to play in Sri Lanka. There are many instances that the venue has been changed due to security risk. We are hopeful the ICC will take into account our genuine concern, and give us the opportunity to play in the World Cup.”
Bangladesh’s security threat assertion was rejected by the ICC on Wednesday. Cricket’s global governing body, after a board meeting, had announced that the tournament schedule would not be changed as “altering the schedule under the circumstances, in the absence of any credible security threat, could set a precedent that would jeopardise the sanctity of future ICC events”.
“We have the right to play the World Cup in Sri Lanka — there are many precedents worldwide where matches have been moved to other venues due to security risks. We have a genuine security risk. We have not lost hope. We hope the ICC will consider this genuine risk and allow us to play the World Cup in Sri Lanka. We are still waiting with that hope,” Nazrul said.
Meanwhile, BCB president Aminul Islam has effectively accused the ICC of double standards, in pointing to the governing body’s accommodation of India’s request to play their 2025 Champions Trophy matches in the UAE instead of Pakistan, while refusing to move Bangladesh’s matches in the upcoming T20 World Cup from India to Sri Lanka, ESPNcricinfo reports.
Speaking to the media in Dhaka Aminul said India were given the “privilege” of playing all their Champions Trophy matches at one venue – Dubai.
“The ICC tried to tell us about incidents in 1996 and 2003 but we pointed out their recent steps in a similar matter,” Aminul said. “When a country refused to travel to another country for the Champions Trophy last February, the ICC organised a neutral venue for them. The team played all their Champions Trophy matches in that neutral venue. They played in one ground, staying in one hotel. It was a privilege.”
Aminul said he will continue to communicate with the ICC on the issue of Bangladesh’s venues and participation in the 2026 T20 World Cup, but he is steadfast about not playing in India. He said he told the ICC that it could also adopt the hybrid model of letting Bangladesh play in Sri Lanka.
When asked if they were going to miss the ICC’s deadline of one day to change their stance on playing in India, Aminul said: “A global organisation cannot give a deadline of 24 hours. We will keep fighting.”
In a parting shot at the ICC, Aminul said: “We are proud of Bangladesh cricket, but we are doubtful about world cricket. When cricket’s popularity is in decline, ICC is denying a cricket-loving country of 200 million people. Cricket is going to the Olympics in 2028. India is bidding for the Olympics and Commonwealth Games, but it will be their failure if such a country [Bangladesh] is not going to the World Cup.”
Bangladesh are currently in Group C along with England, Italy, West Indies and Nepal, and are scheduled to play their first three games in Kolkata and their last one in Mumbai. Per the current schedule, they play West Indies on February 7, the opening day of the tournament.
