(Image source from: PTI)
Bangladesh announced on Thursday that they will not go to India for the T20 World Cup starting on February 7. This decision came after the International Cricket Council (ICC) turned down their plea to move their T20 World Cup games from India. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) made this choice following a discussion with the national team players and Youth and Sports Adviser Asif Nazrul. The BCB faced a 24-hour deadline to either agree to go to India or face being replaced, since the ICC stated that there was no real threat to the safety of their teams, staff, or fans in India. Nevertheless, standing firm on their stance, Bangladesh's sports advisor Asif Nazrul, after talking with the team, declared that they do not accept the ICC’s viewpoint. "Although our players have put in a lot of effort to qualify for the World Cup, our worries about safety in India remain unchanged. This isn’t just a random concern," Nazrul mentioned at a press conference on Thursday.
"We are still hopeful; our team is prepared. We hope the ICC will be fair by taking our real security fears into account and letting us play in Sri Lanka," he stated. The BCB, however, emphasized that they truly want to participate in the tournament, just not in India. The Bangladesh board also mentioned they will keep engaging with the ICC to find a solution to the ongoing stalemate. "We will keep talking to the ICC. We want to compete in the World Cup, but it won’t be in India. We will continue to push for this. There were some shocking decisions made during the ICC Board Meeting. The Mustafizur situation isn’t just one separate problem. India was the only one making decisions on that matter," said Aminul Islam Bulbul, President of the Bangladesh Cricket Board.
"The ICC turned down our request to move our games from India. We are uncertain about the current status of world cricket. Its popularity is declining. They have isolated 200 million people. Cricket is going to the Olympics, but if a country like ours isn’t included, that is the ICC's fault," he added.
Bangladesh is scheduled to play four matches in India (three in Kolkata and one in Mumbai). The country raised security issues after pacer Mustafizur Rahman was removed from the IPL based on directives from the BCCI due to unspecified "developments all around. " As things are currently, Bangladesh may be replaced by Scotland in the tournament.
