Former India cricketer Manoj Tiwary has strongly criticised the political interference surrounding Bangladesh’s T20 World Cup stance, stating that it is the players who are paying the heaviest price. Tiwary said the decision to boycott the tournament in India has stripped Bangladeshi cricketers of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to perform on the world stage.
Speaking to ANI, Tiwary underlined that the matter has gone far beyond cricketing concerns and has instead become a political issue dictated by the Bangladesh Sports Ministry. He stressed that the players have been left powerless, with their careers and ambitions effectively held hostage by decisions taken outside the dressing room.
“This is a loss for the Bangladesh players,” Tiwary told ANI. “Any player would want to play for their country and dream to play a World Cup. This only helps them grow in their careers. But the players had nothing in their hands. The decision from the ICC was also clear — ‘play or leave’.”
Tiwary went on to question how the situation escalated to this point, suggesting that the Bangladesh Cricket Board had little real say in the final call.
“The ICC chairman and the ICC are very powerful. No one really knows why the Bangladesh Cricket Board took this decision. From the outside, it is clear that this was never the board’s decision — it came from the sports ministry,” he said.
“I have always said that if politics enters sport, we will see things like this unfold. Just because of politics, we are now seeing a Test-playing nation not coming to play a World Cup. This is happening for the first time in history,” he added.
Bangladesh in their own chaos
Bangladesh’s refusal to participate in the T20 World Cup in India was reaffirmed on Thursday, January 22, by sports adviser Asif Nazrul, despite the International Cricket Council giving the Bangladesh Cricket Board a final window to reconsider. The ICC has already made it clear that the tournament will proceed as scheduled and rejected Bangladesh’s request to relocate their matches to Sri Lanka, stating there was no credible security threat in India.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board has acknowledged that sticking to its stance could result in expulsion from the tournament. After meetings involving board officials, senior players and the interim government, the BCB confirmed that unresolved security concerns had forced it into a rigid position, leaving players with no agency in the matter.
Comments from players such as Mahedi Hasan, who described the government and the board as their “guardians”, have only reinforced the sense that the squad’s World Cup dream is slipping away due to forces beyond cricketing control. For a team still chasing its first ICC title since gaining Test status in 2000, missing a global event could be deeply damaging.
Beyond the immediate setback, the fallout could extend into future tournaments. Bangladesh risk being pushed into qualification pathways for upcoming ICC events, complicating their route to the world stage and straining relations with the global governing body.
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