The International Cricket Council has firmly rejected the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s request to relocate its matches away from India for the 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup, effectively leaving Bangladesh’s participation in serious doubt. The decision was taken after an emergency ICC Board meeting held on Wednesday (January 21), where the overwhelming majority of members voted against the proposal.
At the virtual meeting, only two of the 16 board members supported Bangladesh’s stance — Bangladesh itself and the Pakistan Cricket Board. Despite a late show of solidarity from Pakistan, the appeal failed to gain traction, with the ICC making it clear that the tournament plans would not be altered at such a late stage.
Following the meeting, the ICC issued what amounts to a final ultimatum. The BCB has been given 24 hours to confirm whether it will send its team to India for the World Cup, scheduled to run from February 7 to March 8. If Bangladesh fails to meet the deadline, the ICC will replace them with another team. Scotland are widely expected to step in as the replacement in Group C should Bangladesh pull out.
Over the coming hours, the BCB is expected to consult with the Bangladeshi government before making a final decision. However, sources indicated that the outcome was never really in doubt and that the ICC was unwilling to deviate from its established schedule on the eve of a major global event.
The ICC also examined the security concerns raised by Bangladesh in detail. After reviewing assessments from host authorities as well as independent security experts, the Board concluded that there was no credible threat to Bangladeshi players, officials, media personnel or supporters at any of the Indian venues. Consequently, the ICC saw no justification for shifting Bangladesh’s matches to Sri Lanka, as requested by the BCB.
Earlier, the BCB had proposed a group swap with Cricket Ireland, whose team is scheduled to play all of its group games in Sri Lanka. That idea was quickly dismissed, with Cricket Ireland stating it had already received assurances from the ICC that its fixtures would remain unchanged — a position that was reaffirmed during the board meeting.
As per the existing schedule, Bangladesh are due to play three of their four group-stage matches in Kolkata on February 7, 9 and 14 against West Indies, Italy and England respectively. Their final group match is scheduled against Nepal at the Wankhede Stadium on February 17.
Later in the day, the ICC released a formal statement reiterating its stance, stressing that all security reviews had found no verifiable risk in India. The ICC also dismissed the BCB’s attempt to link their concerns to Mustafizur Rahman’s exclusion from the IPL, calling it an unrelated and isolated matter with no bearing on the World Cup’s security framework.
