Bangladesh’s participation in the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup remains uncertain after the country reiterated its refusal to travel to India, despite warnings from the International Cricket Council (ICC) that the team could be replaced if it does not comply with the schedule.
The stand was reaffirmed after a high-level meeting in Dhaka on Thursday involving Bangladesh’s sports adviser Asif Nazrul, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Aminul Islam, CEO Nizamuddin and several national team players. The tournament is scheduled to begin on February 7.
Senior players, including Nurul Hasan, Shamim Hossain, Hasan Mahmud, Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Jaker Ali and Saif Hassan, attended the meeting, highlighting the seriousness of the situation as the ICC’s deadline approaches.
Bangladesh insists on venue change
Speaking at the press conference after the meeting, BCB president Aminul Islam said the board would continue to push for shifting Bangladesh’s matches out of India. Aminul said, "We will go back to the ICC with our plan to play in Sri Lanka. They did give us a 24-hour ultimatum, but a global body can’t really do that. ICC will miss out on 200 million people watching the World Cup. It will be their loss.”
Sports adviser Asif Nazrul took a stronger position, accusing the ICC of failing to address Bangladesh’s security concerns. “I think we did not get justice from the ICC. Whether we will play in the World Cup or not is entirely a government decision. Nothing happened in India in the recent past that suggests things have changed there (security-wise). We hope ICC will give us justice.”
Nazrul said the concerns stemmed from a real incident involving a Bangladeshi player. “All of us want to play the T20 World Cup because our players have earned this through hard work. But the security risk situation in India has not changed,” he said, referring to an incident in which a senior Bangladeshi player was asked to leave India.
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He also criticised the lack of outreach from both the ICC and the Indian government. “The ICC has made no effort to convince us… Even the Indian government made no effort to convince us… Therefore, there is no scope for changing our decision,” he added.
What happened?
Under the ICC schedule, Bangladesh are placed in Group C with England, Italy, West Indies and Nepal, and are set to play three matches in Kolkata before finishing the group stage in Mumbai. If Bangladesh pull out, Scotland are expected to replace them.
The standoff began after the BCCI asked Kolkata Knight Riders to release Mustafizur Rahman from their IPL 2026 squad on January 3. A day later, the BCB formally informed the ICC that Bangladesh would not travel to India due to security concerns. The ICC has rejected linking the issue to the World Cup, calling it “isolated and unrelated.”
