T20 World Cup: ICC rejects Bangladesh’s venue shift demand, says no threat to team and gives BCB 24 hours

NEW DELHI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) board on Wednesday voted against Bangladesh Cricket Board’s (BCB) demand to relocate the Bangladesh team’s T20 World Cup matches from India to Sri Lanka. ICC released a statement saying the board has decided to stick to the already-published schedule in the ‘absence of any independent security findings’, which suggest any threat to the Bangladesh contingent in India.

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The T20 World Cup starts on Feb 7 with Bangladesh scheduled to play West Indies in Mumbai in one of the three matches on the opening day.




It is understood that only the Pakistan board voted in favour of BCB while the rest of the 14 members rejected the demand. TOI has learnt that ICC has given BCB 24 hours after ICC’s meeting on Wednesday to revisit their stance before the world body goes ahead with its process of announcing a replacement team. BCB has got into a huddle with its government adviser. If the BCB doesn’t agree, Scotland are likely to participate in the T20 World Cup as per ICC rankings.

BCB, acting on the advice of govt’s adviser to sports ministry Asif Nazrul, took the stance of not sending its team to India after the Indian cricket board (BCCI) decided to oust Bangladesh seamer Mustafizur Rahman from the upcoming IPL. The BCCI didn’t specify any reason for its move and the Bangladesh govt chose to make it an issue of national dignity. The BCB claimed if the BCCI thought Mustafizur’s presence in the IPL was not right then it will be unsafe to send its team to India.


As per the schedule, Bangladesh are slated to play one league match in Mumbai and other three league matches in Kolkata. TOI has learnt that the Nazrul and BCB president Aminul Islam are likely to meet the players before communicating their decision to the ICC. ICC chose to address BCB’s issue with BCCI based on Mustafizur’s IPL ouster as an ‘isolated and unrelated development concerning one of its player’s involvement in a domestic league.’

“This linkage has no bearing on the tournament’s security framework or the conditions governing participation in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup,” the ICC said, referring to BCB’s concerns.

ICC and BCB have been involved in multiple discussions over the last three weeks. “The decision was taken after considering all security assessments conducted, including independent reviews, all of which indicated there was no threat to Bangladesh players, media persons, officials and fans at any of the tournament venues in India,” ICC said.

“The ICC management engaged in a series of correspondences and meetings with the BCB in a bid to resolve the impasse, sharing detailed information on the event security plan, including layered federal and state law-enforcement support,” it added.

The world body went on to assert that heeding BCB’s request could set a precedent that could undermine ICC’s integrity in the future. “The ICC Board noted that it was not feasible to make changes so close to the tournament and that altering the schedule under the circumstances, in the absence of any credible security threat, could set a precedent that would jeopardise the sanctity of future ICC events and undermine its neutrality as a global governing body."


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