The ICC has issued a final ultimatum to the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) after the BCB remained steadfast in its refusal to play in India. According to reports, the ICC and BCB held a meeting in Dhaka to come to a common ground on Wednesday. Now the situation has come into a phase where the ICC has to make a decisive decision, and they thought of looking beyond Bangladesh’s participation in the World Cup if they fail to decide within the next 24 hours. Reportedly, the ICC has rejected all their requests to change their venue, even after Pakistan’s last-minute support, as the PCB extended their helping hands to the BCB to host their matches. Things have taken a curious turn after PCB’s inclusion in the matter.
Over the last three weeks, the cricket world was filled with curiosity as the whole world was looking towards Bangladesh’s participation in the T20 World Cup, which remained in question. ICC will not consider any venue replacement as they have set all logistical plans, and now, if BCB fails to make a positive decision, Scotland will take their place. BCB also proposed changing their group with Ireland, but this idea was dismissed by the Supreme Board of Cricket.
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The controversy began when the BCCI instructed the KKR franchise to remove Mustafizur Rahman from their 2026 squad due to political tensions.
What is the outcome of the Wednesday meeting?
The ICC shared the details of the meeting via press release on their website, which reads, “The International Cricket Council (ICC) today confirmed that the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup will proceed as scheduled with Bangladesh’s matches to be played in India.”
The press release also reads, “ The decision was taken after considering all security assessments conducted, including independent reviews, all of which indicated there was no threat to Bangladesh players, media persons, officials and fans at any of the tournament venues in India.”
“The ICC Board noted that it was not feasible to make changes so close to the tournament and that 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 and undermine its neutrality as a global governing body.” It adds.
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An ICC spokesperson said, “Over the past several weeks, the ICC has engaged with the BCB in sustained and constructive dialogue, with the clear objective of enabling Bangladesh’s participation in the tournament. During this period, the ICC has shared detailed inputs, including independent security assessments, comprehensive venue-level security plans and formal assurances from the host authorities, all of which consistently concluded that there is no credible or verifiable threat to the safety or security of the Bangladesh team in India.”
“Despite these efforts, the BCB maintained its position, repeatedly linking its participation in the tournament to a single, isolated and unrelated development concerning one of its players’ involvements in a domestic league. This linkage has no bearing on the tournament’s security framework or the conditions governing participation in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.” The spokesperson added.
Bangladesh was scheduled to play three of their matches at Kolkata and one in Mumbai.
