The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday confirmed that there would be no changes to the original schedule of the Men’s T20 World Cup, and Bangladesh will have to play their Group C matches in India. The decision was taken following an ICC Board meeting via video conference. The meeting was called upon to discuss the way forward after the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) asked for its matches to be shifted to Sri Lanka following the release of pacer Mustafizur Rahman from the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) squad.
However, the ICC release makes no mention of whether Bangladesh agreed to play in India or whether the BCB have been given another 24 hours to take a call on their participation. According to reports, Bangladesh will be replaced by Scotland if it decides not to travel to India, but the official media statement made no mention of this.
The decision to stick to the original schedule was taken after all security assessments were conducted and all the independent reviews indicated that there was no security threat to Bangladesh players, media persons, officials and fans at any of the tournament venues in India.
Bangladesh are in Group C alongside England, Nepal, Italy and the West Indies for the T20 World Cup set to be played in India and Sri Lanka from February 7 to March 8, and the side captained by Litton Das are slated to play three matches at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata and one at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
“The ICC Board noted that it was not feasible to make changes so close to the tournament and that altering the schedule under the circumstances, in the absence of any credible security threat, could set a precedent that would jeopardise the sanctity of future ICC events and undermine its neutrality as a global governing body,” the ICC said in an official release.
The ICC also confirmed that its management was involved in a series of correspondence and meetings with the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) to resolve the impasse, sharing detailed information on the event security plan, including layered federal and state law enforcement support.
What did the ICC spokesperson say?
In its statement, the ICC said it tried its best to convince the BCB, but the Bangladesh board remained adamant.
“Over the past several weeks, the ICC has engaged with the BCB in sustained and constructive dialogue, with the clear objective of enabling Bangladesh’s participation in the tournament. During this period, the ICC has shared detailed inputs, including independent security assessments, comprehensive venue-level security plans and formal assurances from the host authorities, all of which consistently concluded that there is no credible or verifiable threat to the safety or security of the Bangladesh team in India,” an ICC spokesperson said.
The ICC also stated that changing the schedule at the last minute would have been a logistical nightmare; hence, the call was taken to stick to the original schedule.
“The ICC’s venue and scheduling decisions are guided by objective threat assessments, host guarantees, and the tournament’s agreed terms of participation, which apply uniformly to all 20 competing nations. In the absence of any independent security findings that materially compromise the safety of the Bangladesh team, the ICC is unable to relocate fixtures. Doing so would carry significant logistical and scheduling consequences for other teams and fans worldwide, and would also create far-reaching precedent-related challenges that risk undermining the neutrality, fairness, and integrity of ICC governance,” the statement said.
“The ICC remains committed to acting in good faith, upholding consistent standards, and safeguarding the collective interests of the global game,” the statement concluded.
