England caught up in T20 World Cup crisis as Bangladesh refuse to play in India

The T20 World Cup has descended into crisis after Bangladesh doubled down on a threat to refuse to play their matches in India.

Bangladesh are England’s scheduled opponents in Kolkata on Valentine’s Day and had already been warned they could be thrown out for demanding that all their fixtures are moved to Sri Lanka. But after an emergency meeting of Bangladesh players and officials on Thursday, they dug their heels in over their controversial request.

The ICC must now decide whether to go through with its threat, with Scotland potentially given an 11th-hour spot to compete in Bangladesh’s place. Pakistan, another neighbour at diplomatic odds with India, expressed initial support for Bangladesh’s position amid an intensifying furore. The tournament begins on February 7.

Bangladesh were told by the ICC on Tuesday that they would be replaced if they continued to refuse to play in India. However, Bangladesh’s sports adviser Asif Nazrul, cricket board executives and players refused to budge at an ensuing meeting.

Relations have been deteriorating between India and Bangladesh in recent months. On January 3, Bangladesh instructed Kolkata Knight Riders to release fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman from their IPL squad for this year. The following day the Bangladesh Cricket Board wrote to the ICC after consulting with the government to say they would not travel to India for T20 World Cup matches due to security concerns.

The prospect of Bangladesh not competing at the tournament is a nightmare for organisers. Figures within the England set-up are relaxed about the situation, however, believing a solution will be found.

Nurul Hasan, Shamim Hossain, Hasan Mahmud, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Jaker Ali, Tanzid Hasan and Saif Hassan were among Bangladeshi cricketers present at the meeting. “We will go back to the ICC with our plan to play in Sri Lanka,” BCB president Aminul Islam said. “They did give us a 24-hour ultimatum but a global body can’t do that. ICC will miss out on 200 million people watching the World Cup. It will be their loss.”

Bangladesh are in Group C along with England, Italy, West Indies and Nepal, and are scheduled to play their first three games in Kolkata and their last one in Mumbai. They play West Indies on February 7.

The ICC has previously rejected the Mustafizur issue as a valid concern. The BCB was “repeatedly linking its participation in the tournament to a single, isolated and unrelated development concerning one of its player’s involvement in a domestic league”, the ICC said. “This linkage has no bearing on the tournament’s security framework or the conditions governing participation in the T20 World Cup.”

Based on world rankings, Scotland would take Bangladesh’s place.

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