The International Cricket Council (ICC) is likely to reject the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB)'s request of taking their T20 World Cup matches outside India. This comes after the BCB had recently written to the ICC and had requested them to shift their share of matches in the tournament outside India.
According to a report by ESPNcricinfo, the ICC is set to ask Bangladesh to adhere to the schedule and play their games in India only. If this happens, then the Tigers will have to play all their group stage games in India and will not be alklowed to play in Sri Lanka. The venues where Bangladesh are scheduled to play are Eden Gardens in Kolkata and Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
The entire Mustafizur saga
Tensions rose massively between the BCCI and BCB after Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) had released Mustafizur Rahman from their squad for IPL 2026. This development came after the franchise had to face a lot of backlash over his participation in recent weeks. The 30-year-old was signed by KKR for a mammoth fee of INR 9.2 crore, but will not be participating in the tournament.
Though there were no problems about KKR signing the player at first, the situation eventually escalated following reports of violent incidents against religious minorities in Bangladesh. BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia then gave a directive to KKR, advising them to release Mustafizur.
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"Due to the recent developments that are going on all across, BCCI has instructed the franchise KKR to release one of their players, Mustafizur Rahman of Bangladesh, from their squad. BCCI has also said that if they ask for any replacement, BCCI is going to allow that replacement," Saikia told India Today.
BCB bans IPL's broadcast
The BCB had held an emergency meeting following the development and had decided to write to ICC as a response to the player's release. They even ordered to ban IPL's broadcast in the country until further notice. The ICC is yet to make an official statement on the situation and it remains to be seen as to how will thiungs develop from here on out.