The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday ruled out any changes to the schedule or group allocations for the Men’s T20 World Cup, rejecting Bangladesh’s request to relocate its matches from India to Sri Lanka.
Bangladesh had announced on January 4 that it would not play its World Cup fixtures in India following the release of pacer Mustafizur Rahman by his Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise, a development that came amid rising diplomatic tensions between the two countries. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) subsequently submitted a formal request to the ICC seeking a change of venue.
The T20 World Cup is set to begin on February 7, with Bangladesh placed in Group C alongside England. Under the current schedule, Bangladesh is due to play all its group-stage matches in Kolkata and Mumbai.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the ICC said the decision to maintain the existing schedule was taken after reviewing comprehensive security assessments, including independent evaluations.
“All assessments indicated there is no threat to the safety of Bangladesh players, team officials, media representatives or supporters at any of the tournament venues in India,” the statement said.
The governing body added that making changes so close to the start of the tournament was not feasible. It warned that altering the schedule in the absence of a credible security threat could set a precedent that might compromise the integrity of future ICC events and undermine the organisation’s neutrality as a global regulator.
An ICC spokesperson said the council had remained in continuous engagement with the BCB over the past several weeks with the “clear objective of ensuring Bangladesh’s participation” in the tournament. However, the spokesperson noted that the BCB had repeatedly tied its participation to “a single, isolated and unrelated issue” involving one player’s status in a domestic league.
“This linkage has no relevance to the tournament’s security framework or the conditions governing participation in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup,” the spokesperson said.
Separately, ESPNcricinfo reported that the ICC had given the BCB an additional day to consult with the Bangladesh government on whether the team would travel to India. If Bangladesh continues to refuse, the ICC Board is expected to replace the team with Scotland in the tournament, based on team rankings.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh government sports adviser Asif Nazrul reiterated late on Tuesday that the national side would not travel to India under any circumstances.
“If the ICC bows to pressure from the Indian cricket board and attempts to impose unreasonable conditions on us, we will not accept them,” Nazrul said, according to the Press Trust of India (PTI).
He added that there were precedents for venue changes in similar situations. “In the past, Pakistan refused to travel to India and the ICC changed the venue. We have asked for a venue change on logical grounds and cannot be forced to play in India through illogical pressure,” he said.