ICC sources rubbish Bangladesh sports adviser’s sensational claim of BCB being asked to drop Mustafizur

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has strongly rejected claims made by Bangladesh’s sports adviser Asif Nazrul that the world body raised serious security concerns about Bangladesh playing the 2026 T20 World Cup in India.

According to ESPNcricinfo, the ICC recently shared an internal security assessment with the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), which clearly stated that there is no specific threat to the Bangladesh team in India. The report was sent to the BCB’s security team last week as part of standard tournament preparations.

The assessment reportedly categorised security risks as low to moderate in some venues and low to nil in others. These classifications are routine and used by the ICC across many countries hosting international events. ICC sources said such risk levels are not unusual and do not justify moving matches to another country.

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The controversy began on Monday after Asif Nazrul claimed that the ICC’s security assessment highlighted major problems for Bangladesh playing in India. He said three factors were flagged as potential security risks - the presence of pacer Mustafizur Rahman in the team, Bangladesh supporters wearing team jerseys in India, and the timing of upcoming elections in Bangladesh.

Nazrul went on to argue that the ICC was placing unreasonable conditions on Bangladesh. He said it was impossible to expect Bangladesh to play without their best bowler, restrict fans from wearing national colours, or postpone national elections just to participate in a cricket tournament.

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“So this statement of the ICC security team has proven beyond a doubt that there is no situation for the Bangladesh cricket team to play the T20 World Cup in India. If the ICC expects us to make a cricket team without our best bowler, our supporters will not be able to wear the Bangladesh jersey, and we will postpone the Bangladesh elections to play cricket, then there can be no more bizarre, unrealistic and unreasonable expectation than this,” Nazrul said on Monday.

ICC reject Nazrul’s claim

However, ESPNcricinfo has suggested that ICC officials see Nazrul’s remarks as a misreading of the document. ICC sources said the assessment only mentioned hypothetical scenarios and did not present them as actual threats or instructions. The ICC has made it clear that it has not asked Bangladesh to do any of those things.

“It’s complete falsehood…There is no such advisory in formal communication,” an ICC source was quoted by PTI.

Later in the day, both the Bangladesh Cricket Board and another government official issued statements to clarify the situation. The BCB said the security assessment referred to by Nazrul was not an official reply to Bangladesh’s request to move their T20 World Cup matches out of India.

“The correspondence cited today by the Adviser for the Ministry of Youth & Sports was in reference to an internal communication between the BCB and the ICC’s Security Department related to threat assessments for the Bangladesh team ahead of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. This does not constitute a formal response from the ICC to the BCB’s request for the relocation of Bangladesh’s matches outside India,” the BCB said in its statement.

“The BCB reiterates that it has formally raised concerns regarding venue arrangements and has requested relocation of Bangladesh’s matches outside India in the interest of the team’s security. The Board confirms that it is still awaiting an official response from the ICC on this matter,” the statement read.

The issue has gained momentum due to the recent controversy involving Mustafizur Rahman. Earlier this month, the BCCI asked IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders to release the Bangladesh pacer from their IPL 2026 squad. While no official explanation was given, the move was widely linked to political tensions following reports of attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh.

Soon after Mustafizur’s removal from KKR, the BCB expressed reluctance to send the national team to India for the T20 World Cup, citing security concerns. Bangladesh’s matches in the tournament are scheduled to be played entirely in India. The Bangladesh government also banned the broadcast of IPL 2026 in the country.