Over the last three days, the India-Bangladesh rivalry has spiked to unprecedented levels. On Sunday, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) officially announced that the men's national team wouldn't be travelling to India for their T20 World Cup 2026 matches. As per schedule, all four of Bangladesh's matches are slated to be held in India and if they progress further, more matches would be added.
BCB has already written to the International Cricket Council (ICC) citing security reasons as the major factor behind their decision, thereby asking for a relocation of their matches to Sri Lanka. This announcement from Bangladesh came just a day after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had asked Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to remove Mustafizur Rahman from their IPL 2026 squad.
BCCI's decision was, of course, driven by a directive from the Indian government and it had to do with reported Hindu lynchings in Bangladesh since December 2025. The Bangladesh government didn't take kindly to this gesture and has already ordered for a blackout in IPL coverage in their country, apart from the decision of not travelling to India.
So, will the ICC accept BCB's request? Currently, multiple sources suggest that cricket's ruling body will agree to the request, considering the recent outrage in India against Bangladesh and their cricketers. Sri Lanka being the co-hosts will be the venue for Bangladesh's T20 World Cup campaign.
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However, the BCCI will have the final call on this matter, considering that they are the tournament hosts and this is a massive logistical headache that could derail the scheduling significantly. Emergency meetings between BCCI and BCB are also expected this week with the ICC having reportedly expressed their preference to sort this scuffle at the earliest.
Just over a month remains before the T20 World Cup kicks-off on February 7 and any major changes in scheduling will be a huge blow to the BCCI and broadcasters.
