Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Thursday all but confirmed its non-participation in the upcoming T20 World Cup as it stood by its decision not to travel to India for the tournament.“We want to play the World Cup, but we won’t play in India,” BCB president Aminul Islam Bulbul said. He also questioned the conduct of the ICC Board meeting held earlier this week. “We will keep fighting. There were some shocking calls in the ICC Board Meeting. The Mustafizur issue is not an isolated single issue. They (India) were the sole decision makers in that issue,” he added.In a strong statement, Islam further said, “ICC had denied us our request to shift our matches away from India. We are not sure about the status of world cricket. Its popularity is going down. They have locked away 200 million people. Cricket is going to the Olympics, but if a country like us is not going there, it is ICC’s failure.”However, Bangladesh sports advisor Asif Nazrul still hoped for “justice” from the ICC. “(We) expect the ICC to provide justice by allowing us to play in Sri LankaThe BCB’s decision comes a day after ICC on Wednesday rejected the request from the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) to shift its team’s T20 World Cup fixtures to Sri Lanka, saying the matches will proceed as scheduled since there was no credible threat to the safety of Bangladesh players, officials or fans at any of the tournament venues in India.The decision was taken at an ICC Board meeting held via video conference, which was convened to discuss the situation after the BCB raised concerns and sought a change in venues.The ICC gave BCB one more day to reflect and take a final position.The crisis was triggered by the removal of Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman from Kolkata Knight Riders’ roster for this year’s Indian Premier League on BCCI’s instructions for unspecified “developments all around”.Citing security concerns and national pride, the BCB responded by announcing its national team won’t travel to India for its T20 World Cup group stage games in Kolkata and Mumbai.BCB wanted to play each of the four group stage matches in Sri Lanka, where the marquee India-Pakistan clash will also be held as per the mutually agreed arrangement for ICC events until 2027.In their last meeting with ICC officials in Dhaka, the BCB had proposed swapping positions with Ireland in Group B, which features tournament co-hosts Sri Lanka, Australia, Oman and Zimbabwe. Such a move would allow Bangladesh to remain in Sri Lanka for their group engagements.
