By Staff Reporter
KARACHI: The International Cricket Council on Wednesday turned down Bangladesh’s plea to relocate its matches at the upcoming Men’s T20 World Cup away from India, insisting there were no credible security threats and warning that any change could undermine the integrity of future global events.
The decision came just days after Dhaka formally asked for its group-stage games to be shifted to Sri Lanka, the tournament’s co-host, following its refusal to send the team to India amid escalating bilateral tensions.
Bangladesh, slotted in Group C alongside defending champions England, is due to play all its preliminary matches in Kolkata and Mumbai starting from February 7. The impasse surfaces from the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s announcement on January 4 that it would boycott fixtures in India after fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman was released by his Indian Premier League franchise, a move Dhaka linked to broader political friction between the neighbours.
In a statement after an emergency board meeting, the ICC said it had reviewed “all security assessments conducted, including independent reviews, all of which indicated there was no threat to Bangladesh players, media persons, officials and fans at any tournament venues in the country.” “It was noted that it was not feasible to make changes so close to the tournament and that altering the schedule under the circumstances, in the absence of any credible security threat, could set a precedent that would jeopardise the sanctity of future ICC events and undermine its neutrality as a global governing body,” the governing body said.
ICC officials have been in talks with their Bangladeshi counterparts for weeks, sharing “detailed inputs, including independent security assessments, comprehensive venue-level security plans and formal assurances from the host authorities,” according to the statement. “Over the past several weeks, the ICC has engaged with the BCB in sustained and constructive dialogue, with the clear objective of enabling Bangladesh’s participation in the tournament.” “During this period, the ICC has shared detailed inputs… all of which consistently concluded that there is no credible or verifiable threat to the safety or security of the Bangladesh team in India. The ICC remains committed to acting in good faith, upholding consistent standards, and safeguarding the collective interests of the global game.”
Despite the outreach, the BCB has tied its participation to the IPL incident involving Mustafizur, which the ICC dismissed as “a single, isolated and unrelated development concerning one of its player’s involvement in a domestic league.” “This linkage has no bearing on the tournament’s security framework or the conditions governing participation in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup,” the ICC said.
Cricket website Cricinfo reported that the ICC has given Bangladesh one final day to consult with its government on traveling to India, failing which the board would replace them with Scotland, the next-highest ranked team eligible under qualification rules. Late Tuesday, Bangladesh’s sports adviser Asif Nazrul doubled down on the stance, telling reporters that the team would not travel under any circumstances. “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,” Nazrul said, according to the Press Trust of India news agency. “In the past, there are examples that Pakistan said that they will not travel to India and ICC changed the venue. We have asked to change the venue on logical ground and we cannot be pressurised to play in India by putting illogical pressure.”
The standoff has cast a shadow over preparations for the 20-over showpiece, co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka, with relations between Dhaka and New Delhi strained by recent political developments. Bangladesh’s refusal echoes past disputes in cricket, where security and diplomatic concerns have occasionally forced venue shifts, but the ICC’s firm line signals a reluctance to yield without substantiated risks.
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