ICC T20 World Cup 2026: Bangladesh remain adamant on decision in spite of deadline, refuse to play in India
Bangladesh cricket team are refusing to back down on their demand to shift their league matches from India to Sri Lanka in the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2026. The tournament is set to get underway on February 7.
Bangladesh government’s sports advisor Asif Nazrul reiterated that there is no change in the nation’s stance when it comes to playing in India in the ICC T20 World Cup 2026. He also set aside viral speculation that Scotland may replace Bangladesh if the latter refuse to play in India and pull out of the tournament.
Last weekend, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) held talks with ICC officials in Dhaka over the long impasse, but no agreement was reached between both the parties. Bangladesh have raised the demand to shift venues of their league matches from Kolkata and Mumbai to Sri Lanka after pacer Mustafizur Rahman was released by Shah Rukh Khan’s Kolkata Knight Riders on instructions from the BCCI due to political tensions between India and Bangladesh.
The ICC have reportedly set January 21 as the deadline to resolve the matter. If ICC have to replace Bangladesh with Scotland, who are the highest-ranked team that did not qualify for the T20 World Cup, the world body would need to give them at least 15 days to prepare.
Bangladesh had proposed to swap their group from C to B, but Ireland were not ready to agree to such a proposal. “I am not aware that Scotland will be included in our place (in the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup),” Asif told reporters in Dhaka on Tuesday.
“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 said.
“In the past there are examples that Pakistan said that they will not travel to India and ICC changed the venue,” he added. “We have asked to change the venue on logical ground and we cannot be pressurized to play in India by putting illogical pressure.”
Meanwhile, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) back-tracked on their claims that they might pull out of the tournament if Bangladesh’s demands are not met.
According to Revsportz website, PCB sources informed that there was no chance of Pakistan cricket team pulling out of the tournament. “Nope, this is not the PCB’s stand,” PCB source was quoted as saying by Revsportz website.
Bangladesh are scheduled to open their T20 World Cup 2026 campaign against West Indies at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on February 7.