Bangladesh reiterates decision not to play T20 World Cup in India

The Bangladesh Cricket Board has once again ruled out travelling to India for next month’s Twenty20 World Cup and said it will ask the International Cricket Council to allow the team to play its matches in Sri Lanka instead.

Speaking on Thursday, BCB president Aminul Islam said the board was standing by its earlier decision, even though it risks being replaced in the tournament, which is scheduled to begin on February 7.

He said that Bangladesh’s concerns over the safety of players and supporters remained, despite the ICC rejecting those fears amid ongoing political tensions between the two neighbouring countries.

The decision was reaffirmed after a meeting involving senior BCB officials, players and the sports adviser to Bangladesh’s interim government. Addressing a press conference later, Islam said that the board would approach the ICC again with the same proposal. 

“We will go back to the ICC with our plan to play in Sri Lanka,” he said.

Islam also criticised what he described as pressure from the global body, saying, “They did give us a 24-hour ultimatum but a global body can't really do that.” He added that excluding Bangladesh would come at a cost for the tournament. “ICC will miss out on 200 million people watching the World Cup (if Bangladesh is axed). It will be their loss,” he said.

Bangladesh’s sports adviser Asif Nazrul confirmed that the decision not to tour India was taken at the government level. “We are hopeful that ICC will give us the opportunity to play in Sri Lanka,” he said.

Relations between India and Bangladesh have worsened in recent months, with the strain spilling over into cricketing matters as well. As part of those developments, Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman was left out of this year’s Indian Premier League, despite having signed with the Kolkata-based franchise.