The International Cricket Council (ICC) has rejected the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s (BCB) request not to go to India for the T20 World Cup and has said that if Bangladesh does not go to India, it will arrange a replacement team. If the Bangladesh team does not go to India, Scotland will be included as a replacement team.
ICC has given the Bangladesh Cricket Board a day’s time to take a final decision.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the ICC Board of Directors on Wednesday, where a majority of directors voted in favour of replacing Bangladesh with a replacement team.
Among the 15 directors present at the meeting, only the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) supported the BCB.
The meeting was called after the PCB wrote a letter to the ICC and other boards, supporting Bangladesh’s position to play matches in Sri Lanka, which is also the co-host of the tournament.
The ICC Board meeting was attended by representatives of all full member nations, including ICC Chairman Jay Shah, BCB President Aminul Islam, BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia, Sri Lanka Cricket President Shami Silva, PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi, Cricket Australia Chairman Mike Beard, Zimbabwe Cricket President Tavinga Mukhalani, West Indies Cricket President Kishore Shiloh, Cricket Ireland Chairman Brian McNeese, New Zealand Cricket Representative Roger Tows, England and Wales Cricket Board Chairman Richard Thompson, Cricket South Africa Representative Mohammad Moosaji and Afghanistan Cricket Board Chairman Mirwaiz Ashraf.
Also present at the meeting were two associate member directors, ICC Chief Executive Sanjog Gupta, Deputy Chairman Imran Khawaja, General Manager Gaurav Saxena and ICC Anti-Corruption Unit Head Andrew Effergrew, who had met the BCB in Dhaka last week to discuss security concerns.
It should be noted that the BCB had informed the ICC on January 4, after consulting with the Bangladesh government, that it would not send the team to India due to security concerns.
This stance came after the Indian Cricket Board had directed the Kolkata Knight Riders to release Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman for the IPL 2026, but no reason was given for this.
Later, the BCB also requested to play matches in Sri Lanka or change the group, which was rejected by the ICC.
According to the report, the risks for teams playing in India are slightly higher than moderate, but there is no information about a direct threat against any team.
Bangladesh has been included in Group C of the T20 World Cup, where the team’s first 3 matches are scheduled for February 7, 9 and 14 in Kolkata, while the last match is scheduled for February 17 in Mumbai.
