Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Aminul Islam said he will be in Colombo on Sunday to watch the India-Pakistan T20 World Cup match, where he expects an opportunity to ease recent tensions with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Speaking to Bangladeshi daily Pratham Alo, Islam said the invitation for the marquee fixture had come from the International Cricket Council (ICC).
"The ICC has taken a decision. The major stakeholders of the ICC are these five Asian countries and for the India-Pakistan World Cup match on the 15th, they want representatives of all five Asian countries to be present at the ground together, watch the match together and talk to one another," Islam said.
India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan form the Asian bloc within the ICC.
When asked whether the meeting could help resolve differences with the BCCI, Islam said, "You can consider it as something like that."
Relations between the BCCI and BCB deteriorated after the Indian board ordered the release of Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman from his IPL contract with Kolkata Knight Riders, citing unspecified “developments all around.” The move was widely speculated to be linked to political violence in Bangladesh in which Hindus were targeted.
Bangladesh subsequently declined to travel to India for their World Cup matches, citing security concerns. However, the ICC, led by former BCCI secretary Jay Shah, rejected the assessment, saying the threat perception was low to moderate following its own review.
After Bangladesh refused to reverse its stance despite prolonged talks, the ICC replaced the team with Scotland in the tournament. The decision prompted the Pakistan government to announce a boycott of its match against India in solidarity with Bangladesh, though the standoff ended after the BCB and the Sri Lankan government persuaded Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to withdraw the call.
Following further discussions, the ICC decided not to penalise the BCB for its earlier position and also awarded Bangladesh an ICC event in the 2028–2031 cycle.
Islam said the BCB would now move to formalise assurances through a written agreement.
"We will also enter into an agreement. The agreement will be line by line, an MoU-type document, so that there is no uncertainty," said Islam.
Recalling a similar approach taken earlier, he added, > "You know that earlier when we held the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Annual General Meeting in Dhaka, a similar issue arose. There as well, we prepared a MoU-type document so that no one could ever deviate from the contract in any way."
"Similar discussions (regarding preparing the MoU) with the ICC are more or less finalised," he said.