A decision over Bangladesh’s participation in the T20 World Cup is going to be finalised on 21st January in Dhaka. According to ESPNCricinfo, ICC has asked the Bangladesh cricket board to finalise their decision on 21st January. After that, ICC will go to other direction if BCB stay firm on their ground.
The ICC BCB conflict has been going on for the last three weeks, which started from BCCI’s decision to remove Mustafizur Rahman from the IPL, as his inclusion in the KKR team has sparked widespread debate, and politicians and parties targeted the team owner, Shah Rukh Khan. Though the stalwart Bangladeshi fast bowler did not have any direct role in Bangladesh's ongoing situation. The left-arm pacer was picked by Kolkata Knight Riders at the auction for rupees 9.2 crore, and he became the highest-paid Bangladeshi cricketer ever. The BCCI allowed KKR to get a replacement from the remaining players. After this directive, BCB urged ICC to change their venues to Sri Lanka and on Monday, the Bangladesh Ministry decided to halt the broadcasting of IPL for an uncertain period of time.
What is the situation now?
Last Saturday, in a meeting with ICC, the BCB asked to swap their group with Ireland, but ICC also denied it. Ireland has been placed in Group C alongside Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Australia and Oman, while Bangladesh is placed in Group B along with England, Italy, Nepal and the West Indies.
"We've received definitive assurances that we won't move from the original schedule. We're definitely playing the Group Stage in Sri Lanka," an official from Cricket Ireland said while speaking to Cricbuzz in a statement.
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On the other hand, the confusion about the participation of the Bangladeshi cricketers has been growing as BCB is not ready to leave a space on their ground. The ongoing matter has been confirmed by a BCB bowler as "Among other points, the possibility of moving Bangladesh to a different group as a means of facilitating the matter with minimum logistical adjustments was discussed," the BCB said, as cited by cricbuzz.
Andrew Ephgrave and Gaurav Saxena, General Manager, Events and Corporate Communications, represented the ICC delegation in the meeting, while from BCB’s side president Md Aminul Islam, Vice-Presidents Md Shakawath Hossain and Faruque Ahmed, Director and Chairman of the Cricket Operations Committee, Nazmul Abedeen and CEO Nizam Uddin Chowdhury joined in the meeting.
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Bangladesh is scheduled to play their group matches in Kolkata against the West Indies, Italy, England and one in Mumbai against Nepal.
