The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday said that all of Bangladesh’s matches during the T20 World Cup will be played in India and the tournament will proceed as scheduled. The ball is now on Bangladesh Cricket Board’s court on whether they will change their stance on coming to play in India or not. The decision was taken following an ICC Board meeting (via video-conference) convened to discuss the way forward after the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) sought its matches be moved to Sri Lanka. 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 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. “Over the past several weeks, the ICC has engaged with the BCB in sustained and constructive dialogue, with the clear objective of enabling Bangladesh’s participation in the tournament. During this period, the ICC has shared detailed inputs, including independent security assessments, comprehensive venue-level security plans and formal assurances from the host authorities, all of which consistently concluded that there is no credible or verifiable threat to the safety or security of the Bangladesh team in India,” an ICC spokesperson said. “Despite these efforts, the BCB maintained its position, repeatedly linking its participation in the tournament to a single, 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 spokesperson added.
ICC rejects Bangladesh’s demand to shift World Cup matches outside India
