POBNEWS24, Dhaka, Jan 22, 2026 : Bangladesh has taken a final decision not to go to India to play the T20 World Cup. This decision came after a meeting between the cricketers and Youth and Sports Advisor Dr. Asif Nazrul on Thursday.
After a meeting with the cricketers at the Intercontinental on Thursday, the Youth and Sports Advisor said that there is no chance of changing the decision not to play the T20 World Cup in India due to security concerns. Asif Nazrul also mentioned that the ICC did not do justice by not requesting Bangladesh to shift the venue. He hopes that the ICC will do justice.
Earlier, in a letter to the ICC, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) said that the Bangladesh team will not go to play the World Cup in India, citing the security situation. However, the world cricket governing body clarified in a press release yesterday that Bangladesh will have to go to India to play the World Cup and no change will be made to the schedule.
It is worth noting that Mustafizur Rahman was bought by the team for Rs 9.2 crore in the IPL mini auction. After that, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) ordered the Tiger Cutter Master to be dropped without any specific reason in protest against extremist Hindutva organizations in India. That is why Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) was forced to release him.
The Bangladesh government, opposing the decision to drop Mustafiz without any reason, banned the broadcasting of the IPL in the country. Then, the BCBO, in agreement with them, announced that it would not send him to India. Where the Indian government is unable to provide security to a Bangladeshi player, they expressed concern about how the entire Bangladeshi team, officials, spectators and journalists will be provided with security.
The BCB also wrote several letters to the ICC regarding this. In which it requested that Bangladesh’s matches be moved from India to Sri Lanka. Several meetings were held between the two parties regarding this. However, the ICC did not find a link between the Mustafiz incident and Bangladesh’s security concerns in the World Cup. The organization also described Mustafiz’s incident as ‘isolated and irrelevant’.
Advisor Asif Nazrul said in response to a question this correspondent, ‘I am personally a big fan of cricket. Liton, Miraj, Nazmul, Sohan, Tamim are all fans of the Bangladesh cricket team. So naturally, we all wanted to be able to play World Cup cricket, to be able to play the T20 World Cup. Because our cricketers have achieved this with great difficulty.’
He said, he added, ‘But, the security risk situation that we face in playing in India, the security risk situation has not changed. The fear of security risk that we have created is not from any airy analysis or idea. It is from a real incident. Where one of the best players of our country, bowing to the extremists, the Indian Cricket Board has thrown him out of India – frankly, asked him to throw him out.’
16 board directors from full member countries were present at the virtual meeting on Wednesday evening, led by ICC Chairman Jay Shah. At the end of that meeting, it was announced that Bangladesh will have to go to India to play the World Cup. Whether the Bangladesh team will go to India and play the World Cup will be announced before Thursday evening.
Advisor Asif Nazrul finally put an end to all speculations. Mr. Nazrul said clearly, the Indian Cricket Board has bowed its head to the extremist Hindutvaists, we have boycotted. Those of you who are here in the Indian media, please convey my words clearly.
