Bangladesh’s players and board have decided – once more – that they won’t travel to India for next month’s men’s T20 World Cup, even though the ICC has warned they could be replaced in the draw.
After a hurried meeting in Dhaka on Thursday, board president Aminul Islam confirmed the stance. “We will go back to the ICC with our plan to play in Sri Lanka,” he told reporters. “They did give us a 24-hour ultimatum but a global body can’t really do that. ICC will miss out on 200 million people watching the World Cup. It will be their loss.”
Alongside Aminul were chief executive Nizamuddin, government sports adviser Asif Nazrul and a small group of national squad members – Nurul Hasan, Shamim Hossain, Hasan Mahmud, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Jaker Ali, Tanzid Hasan and Saif Hassan.
Nazrul echoed the message. “We are hopeful that ICC will give us the opportunity to play in Sri Lanka. It is our government who has decided not to go to India.”
Those words leave the ICC with a dilemma. On Wednesday its board formally rejected the relocation request, said the security argument was weak, and gave Bangladesh a day to rethink. So far, the rethink has not happened. If nothing changes, the governing body has indicated it will move quickly to name a replacement team.
Security flashpoint
Relations between the two neighbouring countries have cooled over the past month. Matters came to a head on 3 January when the BCCI told Kolkata Knight Riders to release Mustafizur Rahman from their IPL squad. No official explanation was offered, yet the BCB treated it as a warning sign. The following day the board wrote to the ICC declaring that, on government advice, the national side would not enter India for the World Cup.
The ICC response was blunt. In a letter to the BCB it said the board was “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.”
Tournament logistics
Bangladesh are pooled in Group C with England, Italy, West Indies and Nepal. Under the published schedule they open against West Indies in Kolkata on 7 February and stay in the city for two further group matches before a final fixture in Mumbai.
Switching those games to Sri Lanka would require wholesale timetable changes and extra travel for at least four other teams – headaches the ICC is plainly reluctant to take on.
What next?
Privately, a few senior players admit the threat of missing a global event is worrying, yet the public message remains consistent: security first, cricket second. Another round of talks is expected within days. Until then, Bangladesh are officially in the World Cup, but only on paper.
