Bangladesh journalists won’t cover T20 World Cup as ICC rejects over 130 applications – Report

Bangladesh Cricket continues to suffer with each passing day. Since being replaced by lower-ranked Scotland in Group C at the 2026 T20 World Cup for failing to find a middle ground (with ICC) in the venue saga, Bangladesh now have its journalists, over 130, facing accreditation rejections by the apex body. Not only are they not participating in the 20-team tournament in India and Sri Lanka, but hundreds of Bangladeshi journalists are also barred from fulfilling media responsibilities at this event, which begins on February 7.

Following replacing Bangladesh at the World Cup, the ICC piled more misery on its fans and now journalists by rejecting between 130 and 150 accreditation applications to cover the tournament.

A Daily Star report, also carried out by several Indian outlets, including NDTV, claims that the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s (BCB) media committee chairman, Amzad Hossain, confirmed this development, adding that over 100 Bangladeshi journalists applied for the T20 World Cup’s accreditations, only for the ICC to reject everyone’s.

"As far as I know, all Bangladeshi journalists were rejected. Around 130 to 150 journalists applied this year, but none received accreditation," Amzad said.

The report also states that several photojournalists received their accreditations around January 20 and 21, but even those have now been revoked.

"I received an approval email from the ICC media department on 20 January, which included a visa support letter. But today I received another email saying my application was rejected," the report quoted a journalist, Mir Farid, as saying.

While Bangladesh has been part of ICC events since 1999, a few of its journalists have reportedly been covering major tournaments even before that, including the 1996 World Cup in Asia; a Bangladeshi journalist named Arifur Rahman Babu, who was among those who covered that tournament, also had his accreditation (for the 2026 T20 WC) rejected by the ICC.

"Even if a team is not playing, journalists from an ICC Associate Member nation can still receive accreditation. I find no reason why everyone was rejected. I am surprised, and I strongly condemn and protest this decision," said Arifur.

Moreover, Arifur, who also heads the Bangladesh Sports Journalists Association (BSJA), said he will take up this matter with the Bangladesh Sports Press Association (BSPA) and the Bangladesh Sports Journalists Community (BSJC) before finalising on their next course of action.