The standoff continues regarding Bangladesh's venues for T20 World Cup 2026 that starts from February 7. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Sunday (January 4) announced the national men's team wouldn't be travelling to India for the tournament and also asked the International Cricket Council (ICC) for relocating the matches to Sri Lanka.
However, the ICC on Wednesday (January 7) have recommended the BCB to continue with the initial schedule, stating the security reason raised weren't as big a concern as it was portrayed to be. In what can be termed as a 'polite rejection' of BCB's venue change request, the ICC has given the BCB a bit of time to make their final decision on this matter.
Understandably disappointed at the ICC's reaction, the Bangladesh camp are constantly organizing meetings to discuss the future course of action. The government's sports advisor Asif Nazrul feels that cricket's main governing body hasn't considered the seriousness of the security problems stated by the BCB.
"Our first stand is to convince the ICC. We have strong arguments and we will convince them with those arguments," said Nazrul.
"The core principle of our stand is that on the question of Bangladesh's security, Bangladesh's honour and Bangladesh's dignity, there will be no compromise. But we definitely want to play the Cricket World Cup."
While the Bangladesh government and BCB are undoubtedly keen to see the team's participation in the T20 World Cup, the spike in political flavour on this topic is undeniable. Once the BCCI directed KKR to release Mustafizur Rahman from their IPL 2026 squad, allegedly due to the rising violence against Hindus in Bangladesh, things were bound to take a strong turn towards politics.
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While they haven't mentioned it to the ICC in their letter, Mustafizur's ouster is the primary reason behind BCB's current stand on the T20 World Cup venue change. Speaking on the matter, Nazrul felt that the security issue shouldn't be taken lightly by the ICC or BCCI, and used his veteran fast bowler's case as an example.
"We do not want to play the World Cup at the cost of national humiliation, at the cost of the security of our cricketers, spectators and journalists, or at the cost of the country's dignity. After reading the letter we received from the ICC today, it felt to us that they have not fully understood the serious security situation that has developed in India for Bangladeshi cricketers."
"To me, it does not feel like only a security issue - it feels like an issue of national humiliation as well. Still, we are primarily treating it as a security issue. When the Indian cricket board itself is telling the Kolkata team that they cannot provide security to this player [Mustafizur], and asking them to drop him from the team - that alone shows there is no environment in India where it is safe to play."
