The official announcement has arrived. The Bangladesh team will not be participating in the upcoming T20 World Cup. Cricket’s apex body, the ICC, has announced the inclusion of Scotland in the World Cup instead of Bangladesh, as per a press release.
Bangladesh is not playing in the World Cup, but Scotland has got a chance. The ICC has finally allowed Scotland to play in the World Cup without accepting the demand of Bangladesh not wanting to play in India. The highest organization of cricket has also given a detailed explanation of the matter in their statement.
In a statement, the ICC said, ‘This announcement by the ICC has come in the context of the International Cricket Council (ICC) rejecting the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s (BCB) request to shift Bangladesh’s matches from India to Sri Lanka citing the absence of any credible or verifiable security threat to the Bangladesh National Team in India. Sri Lanka is the co-host of the tournament, which starts on February 7.
ICC also said, ‘In this regard, an independent Security Assessment is conducted by ICC’s internal and external experts. “It was a difficult decision to implement BCB’s request so close to the start of the tournament,” the ICC statement said.
“The ICC has gone through a lengthy process to address the concerns raised by the Bangladesh Cricket Board,” the statement said. Over 3 weeks, ICC held multiple rounds of discussions with BCB transparently and constructively. These discussions included both video conferences and face-to-face meetings. As part of this process, the ICC has reviewed the concerns raised by the BCB, conducted an independent Security Assessment with internal and external experts, and shared a detailed security and operational plan including central and state-level security measures, as well as enhanced and phased security protocols for the tournament. These assurances have been reiterated at several levels, including discussions with the ICC Business Corporation (IBC) Board.
The ICC’s assessment concluded that India-There is no credible or verifiable security threat to the Bangladesh National Team, officials, or supporters. Taking into account these matters and their wider implications, the ICC has decided that it would not be appropriate to alter the published Event Schedule.’
After a meeting held on Wednesday (21 January), the Bangladesh Cricket Board was given 24 hours to confirm their decision on whether they will play India as per the scheduled schedule. In the absence of any confirmation within the stipulated time, the ICC initiated the process of finding an alternative team in accordance with their “Established Governance System and Qualification Process”.
BCB sent the first email to ICC not wanting to play the World Cup match in India, on 4 January. BCCI removed Mustafizur Rahman from IPL on the previous day i.e. 3 January. Kolkata Knight Riders also dropped Fizz from the squad following the instructions of the Indian Board. After that, the fire of anger burned in Bangladesh.
From there, BCB decided not to play World Cup matches in India due to security reasons. The government is also associated with them. Interim Government Youth and Sports Adviser Asif Nazrul was active in this regard from the beginning. Asif told ICC about not wanting to play World Cup matches in India. Accordingly, the Board was adamant from the beginning to the end not to play in India.
In the last 21 January ICC Board Meeting, a vote was organized on the matter of Bangladesh not going to India. Except for Bangladesh and Pakistan, all the other countries voted in favor of hosting the World Cup with another team instead of Bangladesh. Bangladesh lost by 2-14 votes. After that, BCB Officials and Cricketers held a meeting with the Government for a day. At the end of that meeting, BCB informed the ICC that it was adamant not to play in India.
As a result, according to their own policy, Bangladesh was excluded from the World CupThis includes the ICC.
