Bangladesh Wants T20 World Cup but Refuses ‘National Humiliation’ in India

The disagreement between BCCI and BCB is still not resolved. According to Cricbuzz, Bangladesh’s sports advisor, Asif Nazrul, said he will try to convince the ICC to change the venues for the ICC T20 World Cup 2026. This comes after the Bangladesh Cricket Board told the ICC that their team cannot travel to India because of safety concerns following the controversy around Mustafizur Rahman.

“We sat together with the BCB directors – Bulbul [Aminul Islam] bhai, Faruque bhai and everyone else. Today we discussed the situation and we all agreed that Bangladesh earned qualification for the T20 World Cup through hard work. We are a cricket-crazy nation and we definitely want to play,” Nazrul told reporters after the meeting on Wednesday.

“But we do not want to play the World Cup at the cost of national humiliation, at the cost of the security of our cricketers, spectators and journalists, or at the cost of the country’s dignity. After reading the letter we received from the ICC today, it felt to us that they have not fully understood the serious security situation that has developed in India for Bangladeshi cricketers,” he said.

Bangladesh Wants T20 World Cup Moved, Avoiding Humiliation

Nazrul also said that they want to play the World Cup, but in Sri Lanka, and they are firm on this decision. Nazrul also said, that BAN would come up with a plan of action, after ICC comes up with a response.

“To me, it does not feel like only a security issue – it feels like an issue of national humiliation as well. Still, we are primarily treating it as a security issue. When the Indian cricket board itself is telling the Kolkata team that they cannot provide security to this player [Mustafizur], and asking them to drop him from the team – that alone shows there is no environment in India where it is safe to play,” he said.

“We do not want to go into the wider communal situation in India. But when it comes to the security of our cricketers, the security of Bangladesh, and the honour and dignity of Bangladesh – there will be no compromise. We want to play cricket, we want to play the World Cup, and since there is another host country, Sri Lanka, we want to play there. We are firm on this position. The letter [to ICC] will be sent tonight or by tomorrow morning and after that, whatever the situation becomes, we will sit and take a decision. So far, our decision is clear: we will explain to the ICC that there is no environment in India for us to play safely,” he said.

BCB president Animul Islam gave the example of India and Pakistan, where they use a mixed or shared approach. Plus, he cleared the air surrounding the reports, that ICC had already refused for relocating their matches to Sri Lanka.

“India did not go to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy. Pakistan will not go to India either. We hope to get a proper answer [from ICC],” he said.

“There is a propaganda going around that the ICC has said playing in Sri Lanka is not possible. I would call that propaganda – false news. We have had one communication with the ICC. They asked what the issues were, and we informed them. We will now send them in writing what those issues are,” he concluded.