Thursday 22 / January / 2026
Dhaka: Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) President Aminul Islam Bulbul has reiterated that Bangladesh will not play its matches in India during the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, maintaining that the country wants its fixtures shifted to Sri Lanka under a hybrid hosting model.
“We will go back to the ICC with our plan to play in Sri Lanka. They did give us a 24-hour ultimatum, but a global body can’t really do that,” Bulbul said.
“ICC will miss out on 200 million people watching the World Cup. It will be their loss,” Bulbul added.
He stressed that the controversy surrounding pacer Mustafizur Rahman was not an isolated issue and claimed that India acted as the sole decision-maker in that matter.
“The Mustafizur issue is not a single incident. Some of the things I heard in the ICC meeting were shocking,” he added.
Bulbul also rejected the ICC’s description of Sri Lanka as a co-host nation.
“ICC is calling Sri Lanka co-hosts. They are not co-hosts. It is a hybrid model,” he said.
Bangladesh’s position has been backed by the country’s government. Sports adviser Asif Nazrul confirmed that the decision not to travel to India was taken at the state level.
“We are hopeful that ICC will give us the opportunity to play in Sri Lanka. It is our government who has decided not to go to India,” Nazrul said.
