Bangladesh players await the television umpire's decision for the wicket of Sri Lanka's Kusal Perera during the Asia Cup cricket match between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka at Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025. (AP Photo)
Bangladesh government’s sports advisor Asif Nazrul on Tuesday reiterated that the national team will not travel to India to play the T20 World Cup under any circumstances, adding that they won’t bow down to any pressure. This reaction comes soon after reports that the International Cricket Council (ICC) had given an ultimatum to Bangladesh to decide their participation in the showpiece event by January 21. The T20 World Cup is set to start from February 7 in India and Sri Lanka with Bangladesh scheduled to play their first match on the opening day itself against West Indies in Kolkata’s Eden Gardens.
They would play all four league games in India, three in Kolkata and one in Mumbai. “If the ICC bows to pressure from the Indian Cricket Board and tries to impose pressure on us by setting unreasonable conditions, we will not accept those conditions,” he asserted.
“There have been examples in the past when India said that they won’t travel to Pakistan to play and ICC has changed the venue. We have asked to change the venue for logical reasons and we cannot be pressured to play in India by putting illogical pressure on us,” he told reporters.
The ongoing logjam, an aftermath of strayed diplomatic ties between the two nations, happened after Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman was abruptly released from his IPL contract with the Kolkata Knight Riders following a BCCI diktat. Following that, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) said that they will not be sending the national team to India citing security concerns and national pride. However, ICC’s risk assessment report did not flag any specific or direct threat to the team’s participation in the World Cup.
The BCB has said that they wanted to play their four group stage matches in Sri Lanka and last week they had even proposed swapping positions with Ireland in Group B in a meeting with representatives of the ICC. Bangladesh are currently in Group C along with the West Indies, Italy, England and Nepal while Ireland’s group consists of co-hosts Sri Lanka, Australia, Oman and Zimbabwe.
The standoff has spilled onto the third week, after the BCB communicated their concerns first on January 4. The tournament is now less than three weeks away.
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