Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Jan 21: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday finally rejected the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB)’s request to shift their T20 World Cup 2026 matches from India and has given it 24 hours to communicate its final decision on participating in the tournament at the ICC’s terms.
The decision was taken at an emergency board meeting via video conference attended by all members. All but two of the 12 board members voted against making any changes to the T20 World Cup schedule, and the BCB was informed that it has 24 hours to convey its final decision to the ICC. Should Bangladesh decide to stick to its position of not travelling to India for the competition, Scotland is likely to replace them.
The ICC confirmed that there would be no changes to the original schedule of the Men’s T20 World Cup, and Bangladesh will have to play their Group C matches in India. The board meeting was called upon to discuss the way forward after the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) asked for its matches to be shifted to Sri Lanka following the release of pacer Mustafizur Rahman from the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) squad in the coming Indian Premier League (IPL).
The decision was taken after considering 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 of the tournament venues in India.
The ICC Board 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 ICC management also engaged in a series of correspondence and meetings with the BCB in a bid to resolve the impasse, sharing detailed information on the event security plan, including layered federal and state law enforcement support.
An ICC spokesperson said: “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, including independent security assessments, comprehensive venue-level security plans and formal assurances from the host authorities, all of which consistently concluded that there is no credible or verifiable threat to the safety or security of the Bangladesh team in India.
“Despite these efforts, the BCB maintained its position, repeatedly linking its participation in the tournament to 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’s venue and scheduling decisions are guided by objective threat assessments, host guarantees, and the tournament’s agreed terms of participation, which apply uniformly to all 20 competing nations. In the absence of any independent security findings that materially compromise the safety of the Bangladesh team, the ICC is unable to relocate fixtures.
“Doing so would carry significant logistical and scheduling consequences for other teams and fans worldwide, and would also create far-reaching precedent-related challenges that risk undermining the neutrality, fairness, and integrity of ICC governance. “The ICC remains committed to acting in good faith, upholding consistent standards, and safeguarding the collective interests of the global game,” the spokesperson said.
Earlier, Pakistan Cricket Board had backed Bangladesh’s stance of refusing to play its T20 World Cup matches in India due to “security concerns” and offered to host the country’s matches in a communication to the ICC. “The PCB has said in the e-mail that the demand by the Bangladesh board is justified and must be accepted and that if there are any issues moving Bangladesh matches to Sri Lanka, Pakistan is ready to host all their games,” a PCB source had said. The ICC and the BCB have held multiple discussions on the issue, including a meeting in Dhaka last weekend, but neither side has changed its position.