The ICC Board has rejected the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s request to relocate their 2026 T20 World Cup matches out of India.
At an emergency board meeting, attended by all members, it was decided that Bangladesh’s request cannot be entertained. They have 24 hours to inform whether they will take part in the tournament.
If Bangladesh continue to refuse to play in India due to security concerns, the ICC Board has decided to replace them with Scotland - based on team rankings - in the tournament.
The decision was arrived at after a voting by the ICC members. All but two of the 16-member board voted against any changes to the Twenty20 World Cup schedule. With the final board decision, the World Cup, slated to run from February 7 to March 8 will go unchanged.
The ICC’s decision follows weeks of uncertainty over Bangladesh’s participation in the T20 World Cup after the BCB, in coordination with the Bangladesh government, wrote to the ICC on January 4 to state they would not be sending their team to India due to security concerns. That move was in response to the BCCI instructing Kolkata Knight Riders to release Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman from their squad for IPL 2026, though no specific reason was given for that directive.
Since then, the BCB and the Bangladesh government have maintained that Bangladesh will not travel to India and wanted to play in Sri Lanka instead. During interactions with the ICC last week, BCB had also requested if Bangladesh’s group could be swapped with a team like Ireland, which is playing all their group matches in Sri Lanka. The ICC rejected that request.
A risk assessment report for the T20 World Cup, compiled by an independent security agency, and accessed by ESPNcricinfo, said the threat to teams playing in India is in the moderate-high band, but there is “no information to indicate a direct threat against participating teams.”
Bangladesh are in Group C at the T20 World Cup and are scheduled to play their first three games in Kolkata on February 7, 9 and 14 and the final one in Mumbai on February 17.
--Agencies
