Dhaka, Jan 16 (UNI) The International Cricket Council (ICC) will send officials to Dhaka this weekend to meet the top brass of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) in an effort to resolve the impasse over Bangladesh’s participation in the T20 World Cup in India, scheduled to begin on February 7.
The move comes days after the BCB reaffirmed its refusal to send the national team to India for the group-stage matches, citing “security concerns”.
The ICC team is expected to provide the BCB with detailed security information, including an independent risk assessment. It remains unclear whether a security guarantee from the Indian government will be part of the discussions.
So far, discussions between the ICC and BCB have taken place via video conferencing. This will be the first in-person meeting between the two parties regarding the issue.
During a virtual meeting on January 13, the BCB requested the ICC to move Bangladesh’s Group C matches out of India. The ICC, however, maintained that the original schedule would remain unchanged. Bangladesh is scheduled to open their campaign against the West Indies in Kolkata on February 7.
Tensions between India and Bangladesh have influenced the BCB’s stance. On January 4, the BCB sent a letter to the ICC stating that it would not be safe for the team to travel to India for its four group matches.
The move followed the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) decision to allow Kolkata Knight Riders to release Bangladesh left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman, though no specific reason was cited.
An independent security risk assessment for the World Cup, accessed by ESPNcricinfo, classified the threat level for teams playing in India as moderate to high but noted there was “no information to indicate a direct threat against participating teams.”
The ICC shared this report with the BCB in their last call, indicating that while some venues carry low to moderate risk, there is no overall threat that would ordinarily justify relocating matches.
