Mumbai: The International Cricket Council and Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) are scheduled to talk soon to discuss the status of Bangladesh’s matches in the upcoming T20 World Cup.
This will be the first time that the two parties will talk since BCB wrote to ICC that they will not be able to send the Bangladesh cricket team to India, citing security concerns.
It is believed in India that BCB’s reasoning has little to do with ground realities and is purely political, in response to Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman being released from IPL 2026 by Kolkata Knight Riders on the directive of the Indian cricket board (BCCI). This argument could be raised on the discussion table to avoid a late schedule change, which would not only force Bangladesh’s league matches out of India to be held by co-costs Sri Lanka, but also subsequent rounds, if they go further in the tournament.
However, it is unlikely that BCB – its president is former captain Aminul Islam – would be able to commit one way or the other without further consultations with the Bangladesh government. The Bangladesh interim government has raised the ante following Rahman’s IPL release, refusing permission to its cricket board for playing World Cup matches in India and banning IPL telecast in Bangladesh.
BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia and vice-president Rajiv Shukla had informal discussions with ICC chairman Jay Shah on Monday at BCCI’s Mumbai headquarters. The BCCI and ICC have not made any comments on the matter.
“We, along with all the directors of the cricket board, held two meetings before taking the decision and at this moment we do not feel secure sending our team to India to play the World Cup,” Aminul is quoted by ESPN Cricinfo as having told reporters on Monday.
“So we wrote a letter to the ICC, and in that we clearly stated what we wanted to say. Because to us, security appeared to be a major concern and that is what we are following. We have sent an email to the ICC and we are expecting them to tell us to have a meeting with them soon where we will express our concern,” he said.
“But what our next step will be depends on the reply to the email we have sent. We do not know what feedback will come (from ICC), but the clauses we have given are within the MPO. We are not communicating with the BCCI because this is an ICC event. We are communicating with the ICC,” he said.
