The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has announced that the country’s men’s team will not travel to India for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup, slated to be held from February 7 to March 8. The tournament will be jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka. The BCB has given safety concerns as the main reason why they will ask their team not to travel to India.
Relations between India and Bangladesh have been strained after ex-prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s government was toppled in 2024, and she started living in exile in the former country. Things got worse after the persecution of Hindu minorities in the latter country. India soon asked the Kolkata Knight Riders to drop Mustafizur Rahman, a Bangladeshi fast bowler, from their squad for the upcoming Indian Premier League.
Bangladesh responded by saying that they would not telecast the tournament in the country. They then followed it up with this latest salvo, of not asking the men’s team to travel to India for the World Cup. The BCB has also asked the International Cricket Council (ICC) to reallocate Bangladesh’s matches to a venue outside India.
“Following a thorough assessment of the prevailing situation and the growing concerns regarding the safety and security of the Bangladesh contingent in India and considering the advice from the Bangladesh Government, the Board of Directors resolved that the Bangladesh National Team will not travel to India for the tournament under the current conditions,” the BCB said.
“In light of this decision, the BCB has formally requested the International Cricket Council (ICC), as the event authority, to consider relocating all of Bangladesh’s matches to a venue outside India,” they added.
It will be quite challenging for the ICC to reallocate the venues, since Bangladesh were already slotted to play three matches in Calcutta and one in Bombay in the group stage of the tournament. With the fixtures already out and the venues announced, the ICC will have to do a balancing act to avoid risking an embarrassing situation. It must be noted that the ICC chairman is Jay Shah, son of India’s home minister Amit Shah.
If rescheduling is not possible, the world body may have to risk forfeiting all matches concerning Bangladesh in Indian venues. At worst, the ICC may have to seek another participant by asking Bangladesh to withdraw from the tournament altogether. With England, Italy, Nepal and the West Indies a part of Group C, Bangladesh would have been the favourites to make it through to the next round as the second team.
