On January 20, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) wrote a letter to the International Cricket Council (ICC), backing Bangladesh Cricket Board's (BCB) stance on wanting their T20 World Cup 2026 matches shifted out of India, citing security reasons.
As per a report by ESPNCricinfo, PCB also copied ICC board members on the matter. The report further states the ICC has called a board meeting on January 21 to address the issue. However, ICC was expected to take the decision on Bangladesh's participation in the mega event on January 21 anyway.
On January 20, the Bangladesh sports advisor Asif Nazrul had confirmed that the BCB won't accept the original schedule.
“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,” Nazrul said.
“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.”
Earlier, there were rumours that PCB has offered to host Bangladesh’s matches in Pakistan. Also, they are willing to skip the T20 World Cup 2026 in support of Bangladesh if the latter is replaced following an impasse with ICC. The PCB is yet to make an official statement on the issue.
Since Mustafizur Rahman was let go by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) directive, BCB has taken actions in response. First, they suspended the IPL broadcast in the country indefinitely. Then, they sought changes to their T20 World Cup 2026 schedule.
Bangladesh captain uncertain, no group swap, drama over potential replacement
Currently, Bangladesh captain Litton Das is uncertain of his team’s participation or which group they will be placed in. BCB had proposed for a group swap between them and Ireland which was denied. ICC assured Cricket Ireland that their group won’t be changed. If Bangladesh’s stance remains unchanged and they forfeit from T20 World Cup 2026, Scotland are the highest ranked team which can replace them. But, Scotland Cricket officials are yet to receive an official word from the ICC on the matter.