Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) is revisiting its media accreditation process for Bangladeshi journalists seeking to cover the T20 World Cup in India, following Bangladesh’s decision to withdraw from the tournament citing security concerns in the neighbouring country. The ICC has begun modifying the application procedure, even as several Bangladeshi journalists claimed their accreditation requests were rejected by the global body.“There is a reworking of the process since there is a change in the number of requests and the schedules. The accreditation lists are being worked out accordingly,” ICC sources told PTI.
Around 80–90 Bangladeshi journalists had applied for media accreditation and sources said that even if their team had participated in the ICC event, it would not have been possible to accommodate all requests.“If you go by country quota, you can’t exceed the number beyond 40. The ICC goes by the recommendations of the home board and accordingly takes a call on applications,” sources added.In Dhaka, BCB media manager Amjad Hossain said he had raised the issue with the ICC.“The decision came only yesterday and we have sought to know [the details]. An explanation has been requested. This is an internal and confidential matter, but to summarize—we wanted to know why this was done,” Hossain told reporters in Dhaka.It is understood that Bangladeshi media members will now have to submit fresh accreditation applications, which will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.“I have covered 8 to 9 ICC World Cups. This was the time first time my application was rejected. We are awaiting clarity from BCB before reapplying,” said a senior Bangladeshi journalist.According to the ICC’s assessment, the Bangladesh cricket team did not face any security threat in India, but the country’s cricket board still opted against travelling.Subsequently, the ICC replaced Bangladesh with Scotland for the tournament, which begins on February 7.
