Youth and Sports Adviser Asif Nazrul on Wednesday reaffirmed that Bangladesh will not play their games in India at the 2026 Twenty20 World Cup due to security concerns.
He informed this to the media following a meeting with Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Aminul Islam Bulbul and vice president Faruque Ahmed as the relation continues to be frosty between Bangladesh and Indian cricket.
It all started when Bangladesh paceman Mustafizur Rahman was unceremoniously axed by his Indian Premier League (IPL) side Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) ahead of the upcoming edition upon advice from the top brass of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) with reports putting the exclusion down to security issues.
In turn, a furious BCB requested the International Cricket Council (ICC) to shift the Bangladesh national cricket team’s matches in the T20 World Cup from India to co-host Sri Lanka.
The ICC replied back to the BCB that it was willing to work closely with the regulatory body of cricket of Bangladesh in order to resolve the situation but Asif Nazrul was having none of it, saying they were determined in their position not to send the team to India.
“After reading the letter we received from the ICC today (Wednesday), we felt that they have not fully understood the serious security situation that has developed in India for Bangladeshi cricketers. To me, it does not feel like only a security issue - it feels like an issue of national humiliation as well. Still, we are primarily treating it as a security issue,” Asif Nazrul told the media after meeting the BCB.
“We sat together with the BCB - Bulbul bhai, Faruque bhai and everyone else. Today we discussed the situation and we all agreed that Bangladesh earned qualification for the T20 World Cup through hard work. We are a cricket-crazy nation and we definitely want to play. We do not want to play the T20 World Cup at the cost of national humiliation, at the cost of the security of our cricketers, spectators and journalists, or at the cost of the country’s dignity,” he said.
“We do not want to go into the wider communal situation in India. But when it comes to the security of our cricketers, the security of Bangladesh, and the honour and dignity of Bangladesh - there will be no compromise. We want to play cricket, we want to play the T20 World Cup, and since there is another host country, Sri Lanka, we want to play there,” he added.
The Youth and Sports Adviser continued, “Why we are firm on this position - we hope we will be able to explain that to the ICC. And we hope the ICC will consider our arguments impartially and allow us to play in the T20 World Cup that we have earned through hard work. When the Indian cricket board itself is telling the Kolkata team that they cannot provide security to this player (Mustafizur), and asking them to drop him from the team - that alone shows there is no environment in India where it is safe to play.”
When queried about Bangladesh’s stance provided the ICC does not agree to their request, Asif Nazrul informed, “Our first stand is to convince the ICC. We have strong arguments and we will convince them with those arguments. The core principle of our stand is that on the question of Bangladesh’s security, Bangladesh’s honour and Bangladesh’s dignity, there will be no compromise. But we definitely want to play the T20 World Cup. After that, whatever the situation becomes, we will sit and take a decision. So far, our decision is clear: we will explain to the ICC that there is no environment in India for us to play safely. The letter will be sent tonight or by tomorrow morning.”
bd-pratidin/GR
