Kamal Ghorui
With questions still unresolved over Bangladesh’s participation in the T20 World Cup, Pakistan has stepped in with an alternative proposal, offering to host Bangladesh’s matches if they are not played in India or Sri Lanka.The Pakistan Cricket Board has supported Bangladesh’s refusal to play its T20 World Cup matches in India due to “security concerns” and has conveyed to the ICC that it is willing to host Bangladesh’s games. The offer was made through an official communication to the global body.
The ICC Board is scheduled to meet on Wednesday to reportedly take a final decision on Bangladesh’s participation in the tournament, including whether the team will travel to India for the event starting February 7.Bangladesh are scheduled to play all four of their group-stage matches in India, with three fixtures in Kolkata and one in Mumbai.However, the Bangladesh Cricket Board, with backing from the government, has stood firm on its position and has asked for its matches to be shifted to co-host Sri Lanka.“The PCB has said in the e-mail that the demand by the Bangladesh board is justified and must be accepted and that if there are any issues moving Bangladesh matches to Sri Lanka, Pakistan is ready to host all their games,” a PCB source was quoted as saying by the news agency PTI.The ICC and the BCB have held several rounds of talks on the matter, including a meeting in Dhaka last weekend, but neither side has shifted its stance.While the ICC has maintained that the tournament should go ahead as per the existing schedule, the BCB has reiterated that it cannot send its team to India.The PCB has not issued any public statement on the issue, though multiple reports have suggested that the Bangladesh government had approached Pakistan to seek support at the ICC level.Pakistan is set to play all its own matches in Sri Lanka under a hybrid arrangement agreed upon by the BCCI, ICC and PCB until 2027.The situation involving Bangladesh escalated after Kolkata Knight Riders released fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman following a directive from the BCCI that cited “recent developments all around”.After that decision, the Bangladesh government banned the broadcast of the IPL, and the BCB formally informed the ICC of its decision not to play its World Cup matches in India.
