The Bangladesh Cricket Board has been given a 24-hour grace period to decide whether their team will play their T20 World Cup matches in India, following an emergent International Cricket Council board meeting on Wednesday afternoon that voted against the country’s request to relocate the matches to Sri Lanka. The 20-team tournament begins on February 7.
All 16 of the board members attended the video conference with only two — Bangladesh and Pakistan — going against the majority of the directors. BCB was represented by its president Aminul Islam.
The meeting was called after the Pakistan Cricket Board wrote to the ICC on Tuesday stating that it supported the BCB’s position and requested a discussion on the issue.
It is understood that the ICC board reviewed its independent security assessment before arriving at the conclusion that there was no credible threat to the Bangladesh team, fans, media and officials in India. BCB’s attempts to present its own security assessment were dismissed and the PCB’s attempts to convince the board found no takers.
ICC chair Jay Shah, CEO Sanjog Gupta, BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia, Sri Lanka Cricket president Shammi Silva and PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi were among those who attended the meeting. ICC Integrity Unit head Andrew Ephgrave, who was in Dhaka last week for a meeting with the BCB brass, was in attendance along with ICC general manager, Events and Corporate Communications, Gaurav Saxena.
The world governing body issued a 24-hour ultimatum following the conclave and told the BCB to confer with their government before informing the ICC of their decision failing which they would be replaced with another nation.
BCB's board of directors were engaged in a late-night meeting with Asif Nazrul, the government's sports adviser. It was learnt that Bangladesh's interim government would take a call on their participation on Thursday.
Scotland are tipped to come in for Bangladesh should they fail to comply
with the deadline.
Bangladesh are in Group C along with England, West Indies, Italy and Nepal. They are scheduled to play three of their matches at Eden Gardens and one in Mumbai.
“The ICC Board noted that it was not feasible to make changes so close to the tournament and that altering the schedule under the circumstances, in the absence of any credible security threat, could set a precedent that would jeopardise the sanctity of future ICC events and undermine its neutrality as a global governing body,” the ICC said in a media release.
“The ICC management also engaged in a series of correspondences and meetings with the BCB in a bid to resolve the impasse, sharing detailed information on the event security plan, including layered federal and state law-enforcement support.”
PCB’s letter of support on Tuesday did lend a twist in the tale, but it was always known that the ICC would never agree to a change in fixtures at such short notice.
The BCB had also floated the idea of a group swap with Ireland, who play in Sri Lanka, but that never got the ICC’s support.
“The ICC’s venue and scheduling decisions are guided by objective threat assessments, host guarantees, and the tournament’s agreed terms of participation, which apply uniformly to all 20 competing nations,” an ICC spokesperson said.
The BCB refused to play in India following KKR’s decision to release Mustafizur Rahman following an instruction from the BCCI.