Dhaka (Bangladesh)

A video conference between the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and the International Cricket Council (ICC) was held on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the Bangladesh National Cricket Team's participation in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026.

Representing the BCB were President Aminul Islam, Vice Presidents Shakawath Hossain and Faruque Ahmed, Director and Chairman of the Cricket Operations Committee, Nazmul Abedeen, and Chief Executive Officer, Nizam Uddin Chowdhury.

During the discussions, the BCB reaffirmed its decision not to travel to India, citing security concerns. The Board also reiterated its request for the ICC to consider relocating Bangladesh's matches outside India.

While the ICC noted that the tournament itinerary has already been announced and requested that the BCB reconsider its stance, the Board's position remains unchanged. Both parties agreed that discussions will continue to explore possible solutions.

The BCB says it remains committed to safeguarding the well-being of its players, officials and staff while engaging constructively with the ICC to address the matter.

Earlier, Bangladesh's Youth and Sports Adviser Asif Nazrul has claimed that there is "no atmosphere to play" the T20 World Cup (WC) in India as he referred to a "letter" from the International Cricket Council (ICC) security team, the state news agency, BSS, reported on Monday.

ICC sources said on Monday that independent risk assessments, carried out by internationally recognised security experts, do not conclude that Bangladesh cannot play its scheduled T20 World Cup matches in India, noting that the overall security risk for the tournament in India has been assessed as low to moderate, which is consistent with the profile of many major global sporting events.

Asif Nazrul, speaking to the media at the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) Bhaban on Monday, said the security team's letter mentions three issues related to the security risks of Bangladesh playing in India.

According to the report, Nazrul said the concern regarding Bangladesh's security in the letter is that the security risk to the Bangladesh national cricket team will increase if Mustafizur Rahman is included in the Bangladesh team, "if the supporters of the Bangladesh team walk around wearing the national jersey of Bangladesh and our national jersey and the third is that the closer the election comes, the more the security threat for the Bangladesh team will increase".

He claimed the observation by the security team has "proven beyond a doubt that there is no situation for Bangladesh to play the T20 World Cup in India"."If the ICC expects us to make a cricket team without our best bowler, our supporters will not be able to wear the country's jersey and we'll postpone the national election to play cricket there can be no more bizarre, unrealistic and unreasonable expectation than that...," he said, according to the report.

"We believe that no one should have a monopoly on the game of cricket. The fate of a game cannot be determined based on market management. If the ICC is truly a global organization, then it should give us the opportunity to play in the T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka. We'll not accept any concession in this regard," he added.

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The T20 World Cup will start on February 7. Bangladesh are scheduled to open their T20 World Cup 2026 campaign on February 7 against two-time champions West Indies at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. After the West Indies, Bangladesh will face Italy on February 9 at the same venue, then face the 2022 T20 World Cup champions, England, in Kolkata and will conclude their group-stage campaign with clash against Nepal on February 17.