The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) once again stood firm on its decision to not travel to India for the T20 World Cup 2026. BCB president Aminul Islam Bulbul confirmed the development to the media on Thursday. The decision came after the T20 World Cup-bound players met Bangladesh government's Sports Advisor Asif Nazrul at the Intercontinental Hotel in Dhaka.
Following the International Cricket Council's (ICC) rejection of BCB's request for a venue change in the T20 World Cup 2026, which will start next month, Asif Nazrul reiterated that the security situation in India had not changed.
“There is no scope to change our decision. We believe we did not get justice from the ICC. We still hope that the ICC will do justice to us. The security situation in India remains unchanged. Our security concerns did not materialize out of thin air,” Nazrul told the media on Thursday after the meeting with BCB officials and players.
"It stemmed from a real incident. The country (India) could not provide security for one of our cricketers. In that country, the cricket board is an extended part of the government, which either failed or was reluctant to give one of my cricketers protection when put under pressure by extremist groups," he added.
Blaming the ICC, Nazrul stated that the ICC didn't look into the actual matter. "We all want to play in the World Cup. We have noticed that the security threat in India has not gone. The ICC has not looked into the actual matter. The ICC has reiterated their standard security procedure. We are still hopeful that the ICC will find a way,” he added.
BCB to make last-ditch effort
Meanwhile, the BCB president stated that the board will make a last-ditch effort with the ICC to try and shift their matches out of India. “We will go back to the ICC with our plan to play in Sri Lanka. They did give us a 24- hour ultimatum, but a global body can't really do that," Islam said.
"The ICC will miss out on 200 million people watching the World Cup. It will be their loss. The ICC is calling Sri Lanka co-hosts. They are not co-hosts. It is a hybrid model. Some of the things I heard in the ICC meeting were shocking. We will keep fighting,” he added.
In the T20 World Cup 2026, Bangladesh have been placed in Group C along with Nepal, Italy, England and West Indies. If Bangladesh miss the T20 World Cup 2026, Scotland are the frontrunners to replace them. Bangladesh are scheduled to play their group matches at Kolkata's Eden Gardens and Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium.
