Bangladesh once again refuse to play T20 World Cup matches in India over safety concerns: 'Our concerns are genuine'

The Bangladesh government announced on Thursday that its national cricket team will not play its T20 World Cup 2026 matches in India, despite the International Cricket Council (ICC) refusing to change the venues. Bangladesh’s sports adviser Asif Nazrul, after a meeting with national team cricketers in Dhaka, said the government had decided not to send the team to India as it was “not safe” for the players.

While the ICC upheld the published T20 World Cup schedule on Wednesday, stating that Bangladesh’s matches will not be moved to Sri Lanka, Nazrul once again threw the ball back in the global body’s court, saying they are hopeful it will “accept their concerns”.

Bangladesh to approach ICC again over T20 World Cup crisis

“We are hopeful that ICC will give us the opportunity to play in Sri Lanka. It is our government that has decided not to go to India. Our concerns are genuine, but the ICC has not acknowledged them,” said Asif Nazrul.

“The ICC has not accepted our position. We want to play, and we still hope that the ICC will accept our concerns.”

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Aminul Islam Bulbul slammed the ICC Board meeting, which outvoted its request to change the venue for its matches to Sri Lanka.

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“We will continue to communicate with the ICC. We want to play the World Cup, but we won’t play in India. We will keep fighting. There were some shocking calls in the ICC Board Meeting. The Mustafizur issue is not an isolated single issue. They (India) were the sole decision makers in that issue,” he said.

Bangladesh are part of Group C in the T20 World Cup 2026 and play their matches in Kolkata and Mumbai. But ever since the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) removed Mustafizur Rahman from the Indian Premier League (IPL), BCB has been claiming that India is not safe for their players.

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BCB wants Bangladesh to be placed in Group B in place of Ireland and Zimbabwe so that they can play their matches in Sri Lanka. But the proposal was overwhelmingly defeated in the ICC meeting.

ICC said on Wednesday that if Bangladesh do not play their matches in India, then it will have to name a replacement team.