The Worldwide Cricket Council (ICC) is contemplating the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s request to relocate their T20 World Cup matches outdoors India after the board refused to ship the workforce to India on account of an argument surrounding the expulsion of a Bangladeshi cricketer from the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Earlier, ESPNcricinfo reported that Bangladesh refused to journey to India for the 2026 Males’s T20 World Cup, with the BCB citing considerations round “security and well-being” of the gamers in a local weather of deteriorating political ties between the 2 nations, and sparked by Board of Management for Cricket in India (BCCI) directions to Kolkata Knight Riders to launch Mustafizur Rahman.
The BCCI has not formally mentioned that its instruction to KKR to launch Mustafizur from their squad was primarily based on safety.
Bangladesh’s T20 World Cup matches had been scheduled to be held in Kolkata and Mumbai, with their opening fixture towards West Indies at Eden Gardens on February 7. With only a month to go for the beginning of the event, the BCB’s choice throws the schedule into some disarray.
“Following an intensive evaluation of the prevailing scenario and the rising considerations relating to the security and safety of the Bangladesh contingent in India and contemplating the recommendation from the Bangladesh Authorities, the Board of Administrators resolved that the Bangladesh Nationwide Group won’t journey to India for the event underneath the present circumstances,” the BCB mentioned in an announcement.
“In gentle of this choice, the BCB has formally requested the Worldwide Cricket Council (ICC), because the occasion authority, to contemplate relocating all of Bangladesh’s matches to a venue outdoors India.”
The BCB’s assertion got here two hours after Bangladesh’s sports activities adviser Asif Nazrul backed the board’s choice of refusing to journey to India. “The BCB has determined to not ship the Bangladesh workforce to India for the World Cup,” he wrote on his official Fb web page. “We welcome this choice taken within the context of the novel communal insurance policies of the Indian cricket board.”
“India mentioned that they’re unable to offer safety for one participant, so how can they offer safety for the entire workforce? We needed to take the choice contemplating not simply the gamers and help workers,” a BCB official mentioned. “We now have to consider the followers and journalists who will journey to India. We will not play in India. We are able to play in Sri Lanka.”
Relocating Bangladesh’s fixtures might lead to a contemporary set of problems. The 2026 T20 World Cup will probably be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka. The event doesn’t comply with a hybrid mannequin just like the 2025 Champions Trophy, so it stays to be seen whether or not the ICC will comply with Bangladesh’s request to maneuver their matches out of India.
In the meantime, the BCB has additionally written to the BCCI, asking it to clarify why Mustafizur was launched from the KKR squad when the Indian board had written to the Bangladesh board, requesting it to make him obtainable for the IPL public sale. It is understood that the BCB’s letter to the BCCI, nonetheless, would not deal with its safety considerations. The BCB has shared these considerations with the ICC.
