Bangladesh have remained firm on their stance of not travelling to India for the T20 World Cup 2026, a move that risks their expulsion from the competition.
After ICC rejected BCB's claims for relocation to Sri Lanka for the matches, the Bangladesh Cricket Board had a meeting with the players and staff on Thursday, which further solidified their decision of not coming to India.
Tensions escalated after the BCCI directed Kolkata Knight Riders on January 3 to drop Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman from their IPL 2026 squad, amid no stated reason but aligning with fraying India-Bangladesh relations. The BCB promptly informed the ICC on January 4, post-government talks, that its team would avoid travel to India citing safety risks-a position upheld through ongoing dialogues.
Bangladesh's sports adviser Asif Nazrul affirmed the official line on Thursday: "It is the government's decision not to play in India due to security concerns. The ICC tournament is being held in India where the BCCI can't give security to one of our players. It will be the responsibility of their security agencies. How can we be convinced that they can provide security to our cricketers, fans and journalists?"
"The ICC hasn't even tried to convince us. They only talked about their standard security plan, rather than address our specific grievance. The India government didn't even try to convince us. They didn't call the Mustafiz incident an isolated incident. They didn't say sorry about the Mustafiz incident, or even try to communicate with us. So there's no scope for changing our decision. We didn't get justice from the ICC, they are still not allowing us to play in Sri Lanka. There are many instances that the venue has been changed due to security risk. We are hopeful the ICC will take into account our genuine concern, and give us the opportunity to play in the World Cup," he was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.
If Bangladesh stand by their decision, they will be replaced by Scotland in the T20 World Cup in this edition.
Amid the current issue, former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif urged his country to stay beside Bangladesh and boycott the T20 World Cup as well. Pakistan are playing all of their group stage matches in Sri Lanka and recently they tried to meddle in the proceedings as well, sending a letter to ICC in support of Bangladesh. And now Latif has urged PCB to seriously consider boycotting the World Cup.
"If Pakistan and India don't happen, 50 per cent of your World Cup is gone. This is a great opportunity to challenge the existing cricket order. Pakistan should say they stand with Bangladesh and refuse to play the T20 World Cup. This is the time to take a stand. You need a strong heart to do it," Latif said at the CuaghtBehindShow YouTube channel.
