Bangladesh T20 World Cup participation Highlights: ICC board votes to replace Bangladesh with another team

The BCCI and the PCB had arrived at a ‘Hybrid Model’ agreement last year after the former refused to send the Indian team to Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy. Under this agreement, the Indian and Pakistani teams will be required to travel to each other’s nations, and will instead be facing each other on neutral turf. Which means that Pakistan will be playing the T20 World Cup final in Sri Lanka should they go the distance, thanks to the agreement.

Since Bangladesh did not have such an agreement with India, their last-minute demand for a venue is not being entertained by the ICC.

Here’s how Bangladesh have fared at the Men’s T20 World Cup, in which they have featured in all nine editions that have taken place till date:

2007, South Africa: Super 8s

2009, England: Group Stage

2010, West Indies: Group Stage

2012, Sri Lanka: Group Stage

2014, Bangladesh: Super 10s

2016, India: Super 10s

2021, UAE and Oman: Super 12s

2022, Australia: Super 12s

2024, West Indies and USA: Super 8s

2026, India and Sri Lanka: ?

Australia and West Indies had refused to travel to Sri Lanka in 1996 World Cup, and were handed walkover defeats as a result. A similar thing happened in the 2003 World Cup, where England and New Zealand refused to travel to Zimbabwe and Kenya respectively. Zimbabwe, meanwhile, had pulled out of the 2009 T20 World Cup while Australia had refused to travel to Bangladesh for the 2016 U-19 World Cup.

The most recent instance was India refusing to travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy last year and playing its matches in the UAE.

According the Dubai-based governing body, the decision was made taking into account security assessments which indicated that there aren’t any credible threats to the Bangladeshi contingent in India.

The ICC had unveiled the schedule in November, which confirmed an India-Pakistan match in Colombo on 15 February and listed Bangladesh’s group-stage fixtures in Kolkata and Mumbai. And after the board meeting on Wednesday, the Jay Shah-led body has made it clear there will be no changes in the schedule.

Here are all the individuals who were present in the ICC board meeting on Wednesday: 

ICC: CEO Sanjog Gupta, deputy chairman Imran Khawaja and general manager Gaurav Saxena, ACU head Andrew Ephgrave and Associate Member directors Mubashshir Usmani and Mahinda Vallipuram.

Bangladesh:  BCB president Aminul Islam

India: BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia

Sri Lanka: SLC president Shammi Silva

Pakistan: PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi

Australia: CA chairman Mike Baird

Zimbabwe: ZC president Tavenga Mukuhlani

West Indies: CWI president Kishore Shallow

Ireland: Cricket Ireland chair Brian MacNeice

New Zealand: Cricket New Zealand representative Roger Twose

England: ECB chair Richard Thompson

South Africa: CSA representative Mohammed Moosajee

Afghanistan: Cricket Afghanistan chairman Mirwais Ashraf

Asif Nazrul, sports advisor to Bangladesh’s interim government, had recently slammed the ICC for their “unreasonable conditions” and categorically stated that the Bangla Tigers “cannot be pressurised to play in India” against their wishes.

Given the strong anti-India stance adopted by the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government, which has been in power since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted from office in August 2024, Bangladesh appears unlikely to budge from its original stance. This despite some of the players, including Najmul Hossain Shanto, expressing concern over the team missing out on a valuable opportunity.

According to Aaj Tak’s Vikrant Gupta, the ICC board voted 14-2 in favour of replacing Bangladesh with another team in the T20 World Cup if they refused to budge from their current stance of not traveling to India for the tournament.

Looks like BCB president Aminul Islam Bulbul and PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi were the only ones voting in favour of Bangladesh’s matches being shifted out of India.

None of the Test-playing nations barring Zimbabwe and recent entrants Afghanistan and Zimbabwe have missed a single edition of the Men’s T20 World Cup – which usually features a lot more teams compared to the ODI World Cup.

Bangladesh, however, could end up missing ICC’s showpiece T20 event for the first time after featuring in each of the nine previous editions if they refuse to budge from their current stance of not traveling to India for the tournament.

The ICC voted in favour of replacing Bangladesh with another team if they continued to refuse to travel to India. According to ESPNCricinfo, the governing body arrived at the consensus following a majority vote in the board meeting that was attended by ICC’s top brass, except Jay Shah, as well as directors of Full Member Nations.

Among those present at the meeting was PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi. And given Pakistan Cricket Board publicly offering Bangladesh its support on its venue demand, it wouldn’t be too far fetched to assume that Naqvi – who also happens to be Pakistan’s Interior Minister – would have voted against the idea of ejecting the Bangla Tigers from the tournament.

Scotland is the highest-ranked side among the teams that failed to qualify for the 20-team T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka, having finished behind Netherlands, Italy and Jersey in the European Qualifier.

That is if the BCB stick to their current stance of refusing to send their team to India, with the ICC giving them one final day to reconsider.

The board meeting to decide Bangladesh’s fate at the T20 World Cup had the ICC’s top brass minus chairman Jay Shah in attendance, including Sanjog Gupta (CEO), ICC’s deputy chairman Imran Khawaja, Gaurav Saxena (General Manager, Events), anti-corruption head Andrew Ephgrave and two Associate Member directors Mubashshir Usmani and Mahinda Vallipuram.

As for the directors of Full Members Nations, BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia was present in the meeting along with BCB president Aminul Islam Bulbul and PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi, among others.

The International Cricket Council has arrived at a final decision with regards to Bangladesh’s participation in the T20 World Cup!

According to ESPNCricinfo, the ICC has told the BCB to inform the interim Bangladesh government that they will be replaced by another team at the T20 World Cup if they continue to refuse to send the Litton Das-led squad to India.

The BCB has refused to send the Bangladesh team to India for the ICC T20 World Cup citing “safety and security” concerns to the players as well as members of the support staff, and have demanded their matches to be shifted entirely to Sri Lanka.

The move, however, could also be seen as retaliation for left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman getting released from Kolkata Knight Riders’ squad, reportedly on the direction of the BCCI, less than a month after being acquired for Rs 9.2 crore in the IPL auction.

Here’s what Bangladesh’s itinerary looks like for the upcoming T20 World Cup according to the schedule released by the ICC in November:

7 February – vs West Indies at Eden Gardens, Kolkata (3 pm)

9 February – vs Italy at Eden Gardens, Kolkata (11 am)

14 February – vs England at Eden Gardens, Kolkata (3 pm)

17 February – vs Nepal at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai (7 pm)

Ahead of ICC’s decision, Litton Das was not sure if his Bangladesh side would be playing in the T20 World Cup.

“Are you sure we are going to play in the World Cup?” Litton said during a media interaction on Tuesday. “In fact, there is still a long time to go before the World Cup, and we are not even certain whether we will go at all. This is by no means an ideal wicket for T20 cricket.”

Bangladesh want to replace Ireland in Group B and play their matches in Sri Lanka.

Group A: India, Namibia, Netherlands, Pakistan, USA

Group B: Australia, Ireland, Oman, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe

Group C: Bangladesh, England, Italy, Nepal, West Indies

Group D: Afghanistan, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, UAE