Mumbai: With the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) refusing to change their stand over their team’s participation in the upcoming T20 World Cup, Scotland are in line to take their place.
Cricket Scotland have been informally alerted about the developments and a final decision of the International Cricket Council (ICC) is awaited. ICC Chairman Jay Shah was in the Dubai headquarters on Friday, charting out the next course of action.
Scotland are likely to replace Bangladesh in Group C to be placed with England, Italy, Nepal and the West Indies. Bangladesh were scheduled to play three matches in Kolkata and one in Mumbai.
On Friday, to have their way in getting Bangladesh’s T20 World Cup matches moved from India to Sri Lanka, the Bangladesh Cricket Board wrote to the ICC seeking the intervention of the governing body’s Dispute Resolution Committee, but the appeal would not pass muster, it is learnt.
Clause 1.3 of the terms of reference of the Dispute resolution panel reads, “The Committee shall not operate as an appeal body against decisions of the ICC or any decision-making body established under the ICC’s Memorandum and Articles of Association or under any rules and regulations of the ICC, but shall operate as the sole forum and procedure for challenges to the lawfulness of such decisions, with the Committee exercising a supervisory jurisdiction.”
On Wednesday, the ICC in a board meeting had already taken a majority view – 14-2, with Bangladesh and Pakistan in minority – rejecting BCB’s demand for Bangladesh’s World Cup matches to be taken out of India for security reasons.
“Bangladesh is on the verge of being excluded from the T20 World Cup. They have the right (to play), but they are being excluded,” Asif Nazrul, Bangladesh government sports adviser said during the Bangladesh Premier League broadcast on Friday.
A no show for Bangladesh would be a major setback for its cricketers, who had been earnestly preparing for the premier tournament to be played between Feb 7 to March 8 in India and Sri Lanka. Till date, Bangladesh, one of the 12 Test playing cricket nations, have not missed a single edition of the T20 World Cup since the first in 2007. Although they have largely underperformed, Bangladesh did make it to the Super 8 stage in the 2024 edition.
For the players, other than missing out on a high octane competition, they would also have to take a financial hit. Teams that do not advance past the second round also receive $382,500 each in prize money, and those finishing between ninth and 12th place get $247,500 each. Teams finishing 13th to 20th place in the 20-team event earn $225,000. Additionally, every team stands to receive an extra $31,154 for each match won,
The ICC also pays participating teams a fee ranging from $300,000 to $500,000, which goes to the local cricket board.
BCB’s hardline stance is known to have been dictated by the country’s interim government who have refused to give permission to the national team to travel to India citing security reasons.
In Indian cricket circles, the BCB’s stance is seen as retaliatory after the BCCI removed Bangladesh pace bowler Mustafizur Rahman from the Indian Premier League (IPL).
“The Indian government made no effort to convince us by saying the incident involving Mustafizur was isolated, or that they were sorry, or that they were taking steps. They made no effort to contact us, no effort to reassure us about the safety of our journalists, spectators and players. Therefore, there is no scope for changing our decision,” Nazrul had said on Thursday.
The ICC rejected the link to the Mustafizur incident.
“The BCB maintained its position, repeatedly linking its participation in the tournament to a single, isolated and unrelated development concerning one of its player’s involvement 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 ICC said in a statement on Wednesday.
