‘Resolve it quickly’: Bangladesh vow to mend relations with India amid coldness over T20 WC exit

Bangladesh vow to mend relations with India amid coldness over its team's exit from the ongoing T20 World Cup, with the country’s new sports minister, Animul Haque, wanting to mend fences with the BCCI. Following the oath-taking ceremony, Haque revealed he met the Deputy High Commissioner of India in the parliament building, with both keen on resolving this issue at the earliest through discussions.

"After taking the oath today, I met with the deputy high commissioner of India at the Parliament building. I discussed the T20 World Cup with him," Haque said on Tuesday after Bangladesh's new cabinet was sworn in following the general elections. "It was a cordial conversation. I told him that we want to resolve this issue quickly through discussions because we want to maintain friendly relations with all our neighbouring countries."

Meanwhile, Scotland replaced Bangladesh in Group C after the ICC and the BCB failed to reach a middle ground over the T20 World Cup venue row, which made headlines for most of the last month. The BCCI directed IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to release Bangladeshi seamer Mustafizur Rahman ahead of IPL 2026 over chaotic scenes in Bangladesh, including regular attacks on the minorities. Upset over the lack of explanation behind Mustafizur’s IPL 2026 exit, the BCB held emergency meetings back home, leading to several groundbreaking decisions.

Firstly, they suspended all IPL-related broadcasts in the country for the upcoming season, and then decided against travelling to India for the first showpiece event of the year, citing security reasons. The cricket’s apex body intervened and tried convincing Bangladesh of no security threat to its players and travelling staff (in India) following re-assessment from an independent security agency, hired especially for the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.

Unconvinced by the ICC’s assessment, the BCB stood by its stance of not travelling to India, further urging the governing body to move Bangladesh’s league matches to Sri Lanka. While the ICC did its bit again through several dialogues, BCB’s sternness forced them to replace them with another team for the 20-team tournament.

Although it was ugly how everything unfolded, Bangladesh escaped potential sanctions as the ICC decided against imposing any on them, while agreeing to some of their requests during a closed-door meeting with the BCB and PCB officials just ahead of the T20 World Cup.

Despite Bangladesh’s refusal to travel to India for this mega event, both boards are assumed to be on the same page regarding honouring the FTP schedule, which includes India’s away white-ball tour of Bangladesh later this year.

"From sports to all other sectors, we want to build a sincere and cordial relationship [with India]," Haque said. "You know that because of diplomatic complications, we could not play in the World Cup. If those issues had been discussed and settled earlier, our team might have participated."