The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) sports advisor, Asif Nazrul, has issued a stern warning to the International Cricket Council (ICC) over their participation in the T20 World Cup 2026 which will be hosted by India and Sri Lanka later this year. Notably, ICC are in talks with the BCB after they refused to travel to India for the marquee event, citing players' safety.
Who will replace Bangladesh?
After Bangladesh refused to feature in India, there were reports that they want to remain firm on their stand of not playing T20 World Cup 2026 matches in India or risk forfeit. If Bangladesh pull out of the mega event, Scotland is expected to replace them as per the ICC T20I rankings. However, the ICC is yet to contact the Scottish cricket officials.
BCB on featuring in India
However, while chatting with the Bangladesh media, the BCB Sports Advisor Asif Nazrul said that they don't know about Scotland's replacement, and if the ICC exerts pressure or bows to the BCCI and tries to impose any unreasonable conditions, then they won't accept that.
“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 asserted.
“There have been examples in the past when India said that they won’t travel to Pakistan to play and ICC has changed the venue. We have asked to change the venue for logical reasons and we cannot be pressured to play in India by putting illogical pressure on us,” he told reporters.
Will Bangladesh travel to India for the T20 World Cup 2026?
Citing the current situation, there are very few chances that the Bangladesh Cricket team will travel to India for the T20 World Cup 2026, which is scheduled to start from February 7.
Why did Bangladesh refuse to play in India?
Bangladesh who are placed in Group C are scheduled to play their league matches in Mumbai and Kolkata but as they refused to travel to India after the BCCI instructed an Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to release Bangladeshi pacer Mustafizur Rahman from its 2026 squad, which was followed by the Bangladesh government banning the broadcast of the IPL in the country.