T20 World Cup: BCB chief says ICC yet to respond; vows against playing at ‘alternate Indian venue’
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "T20 World Cup: BCB chief says ICC yet to respond; vows against playing at ‘alternate Indian venue’")
BCB says ICC yet to respond; vows against playing at ‘alternate Indian venue’ Photograph: (AFP)
The ICC earlier rejected Bangladesh's first plea, with the BCB insisting that they try to convince the apex body to move the team's T20 WC matches out of India.
The 2026 T20 World Cup venue row involving Bangladesh continues to make headlines, as BCB President Aminul Islam admits that the apex body, the ICC, hasn’t responded to their plea of moving their matches out of India, citing security concerns. Although the ICC rejected their first request after failing to find any concrete reason for shifting Bangladesh’s World Cup games to Sri Lanka, the BCB remains firm in its stance of not travelling to India for the 20-team tournament starting in less than a month.
Bangladesh is scheduled to play their four league matches in India (three in Kolkata and one in Mumbai) starting February 7.
However, after what transpired over the past weekend involving BCCI’s directives (to IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders) of releasing Bangladeshi seamer Mustafizur Rahman ahead of IPL 2026 over internal chaos in Bangladesh and attacks on minorities in the country, the BCB, irked by the lack of specific reasoning (by the BCCI) behind this call, decided against travelling to India for the showpiece event.
They held back-to-back meetings and also decided to impose an indefinite ban on IPL 2026 broadcasting before formally writing to the ICC, asking them to shift their games out of India, citing the safety and well-being of their players.
“We haven’t yet received any reply from the ICC. We have sent all the attachments and proofs of our concern,” the BCB chief said, as quoted by the Indian Express.
Aminul has stressed that moving the matches out of Kolkata and Mumbai to any other Indian cities is not the answer to their request, saying an alternate Indian venue is also an Indian venue at the end of the day, while adding that they wish to play all of their matches in Sri Lanka, the co-host of the tournament.
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“Any alternate Indian venue at the end of the day is an Indian venue. You all know that no unilateral decision can be taken, and we have to abide by the government’s diktat. We are standing where we had been a few days back.
“I can’t comment on what we will do if we aren’t allowed to play in Sri Lanka unless the ICC sends its response,” he added.
He, however, wasn’t aware that Hyderabad and Chennai were being discussed as alternative venue options for the two scheduled ones, where they felt threatened.
“I haven’t heard about Hyderabad and Chennai being replacement venues. We might come to know maybe on Monday or Tuesday.
“I believe Bangladesh is a big team in world cricket. We have played the quarterfinals of the 2015 ODI World Cup, we played the Champions Trophy semifinals, and in sub-continental conditions, we have a good chance of doing well,” he continued.
