By Staff Reporter
LAHORE: Bangladesh’s government said on Sunday that it would seek to have its team’s matches in next month’s T20 World Cup moved from India to Sri Lanka, escalating a diplomatic row over cricket that has deepened amid strained political ties between the two neighbors.
The announcement came a day after the Indian Premier League’s Kolkata Knight Riders released Mustafizur Rahman, a prominent Bangladeshi fast bowler, following what the team described as guidance from India’s cricket board.
The move has prompted sharp rebukes from Bangladeshi officials, who view it as an affront to national pride. “We will not accept any insult to Bangladeshi cricket, cricketers and Bangladesh under any circumstances,” Asif Nazrul, the youth and sports adviser in Bangladesh’s interim government, said in a statement carried by the state-run BSS news agency. “The days of slavery are over.”
Nazrul said he had directed the Bangladesh Cricket Board to contact the International Cricket Council, the sport’s global governing body, to express concerns about player safety and to formally request the venue change. “The board should inform that, where a Bangladeshi cricketer cannot play in India despite being contracted, the entire Bangladeshi cricket team cannot feel safe going to play in the World Cup,” he said. “I have also instructed the board to request that Bangladesh’s World Cup matches should be held in Sri Lanka.”
The T20 World Cup is set to begin on Feb. 7, with India and Sri Lanka as co-hosts. Bangladesh is scheduled to play its four group-stage matches in India, including potentially high-profile encounters that could draw large crowds. Under a longstanding arrangement in international cricket, Pakistan will play all its matches in Sri Lanka, reflecting a policy of neutral venues for India-Pakistan games in multilateral tournaments to avoid security and political complications.
The cricket dispute unfolds against a backdrop of deteriorating relations between India and Bangladesh, which have worsened since a mass uprising in Dhaka in 2024 ousted Sheikh Hasina, the longtime prime minister and a close ally of New Delhi. India’s foreign ministry last month condemned what it called “unremitting hostility against minorities” in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, a charge that has fueled accusations of interference.
Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Peace Prize winner who now leads Bangladesh’s interim government, has countered by accusing India of exaggerating the scale of the violence. On Saturday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India advised the Kolkata Knight Riders to release Mustafizur, citing “recent developments.”
Devajit Saikia, the BCCI secretary, said the team had been “advised to release” the 30-year-old bowler. Mustafizur, who has represented other IPL teams in previous seasons, was acquired by Kolkata at auction in December for more than $1 million. The IPL’s 2026 season is slated to start on March 26. In response, the Kolkata franchise, which is majority-owned by the Bollywood superstar ShahRukh Khan, issued a statement saying that Mustafizur’s “release has been carried out following due process and consultations.”
Aminul Islam Bulbul, the president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board, told reporters late Saturday that the board would convene an emergency meeting later on Sunday. “The dignity and security of our cricketers are our top priorities, and we will take a decision at the appropriate time keeping these in mind,” he said. Nazrul went further, announcing that he would push to prevent the IPL from being shown on Bangladeshi television. “I have requested the Information and Broadcasting Adviser to stop the broadcasting of the IPL tournament in Bangladesh,” he said.
The episode has stirred debate in cricket circles, where the IPL’s global appeal often intersects with geopolitical tensions. Bangladesh and India share a long border and a history intertwined with cricket, a sport that commands fervent followings in both countries. But recent events have tested that bond, with sports becoming a proxy for broader grievances.
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