Former Bangladesh Cricket Board general secretary Suyed Ashraful Haque has criticised the decision taken by the Bangladesh government and the BCB to pull out of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, calling it an unnecessary and damaging move. Speaking to ANI on Saturday, Haque said it was wrong to refuse participation in a global tournament over “security concerns” that, in his view, were linked to a Bangladeshi player being dropped from an IPL side. He said Bangladesh “has overplayed its hand in this matter” and warned that such decisions hurt the progress of the country’s cricket.
Haque pointed out that the ICC replacing Bangladesh with Scotland was a normal and expected outcome. He said that when a team chooses not to take part, the ICC follows a standard process to bring in a replacement. “It was not right for Bangladesh to withdraw from the T20 World Cup just because a Bangladeshi player was not allowed to play in the IPL in India,” Haque told ANI. He added that comparisons between the IPL and the World Cup were misplaced. According to him, the IPL is a domestic competition, while an ICC event comes with far stricter and more comprehensive security arrangements. Haque said the decision to stay away from the tournament undermines the effort and hard work put into building Bangladeshi cricket over the years. “Bangladesh has overplayed its hand in this matter by choosing not to participate in the ICC T20 World Cup,” he said. On the Bangladesh government’s demand to shift the team’s matches to Sri Lanka, Haque said such a move was unrealistic. He stressed that ICC tournaments are planned well in advance and cannot be relocated at short notice. “Therefore, it couldn’t be transferred to Sri Lanka,” he said. Earlier on Saturday, the International Cricket Council confirmed that Scotland will replace Bangladesh in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 after the BCB refused to participate as per the published schedule. The 20-team tournament is set to be played from February 7 to March 8. The ICC said the decision came after it rejected the BCB’s request to move Bangladesh’s matches out of India, citing the absence of any credible or verifiable security threat to the Bangladesh team. Following a meeting on Wednesday, the ICC Business Corporation Board asked the BCB to confirm within 24 hours whether the team would take part in the tournament as scheduled. When no confirmation was received within the deadline, the ICC moved ahead in line with its governance and qualification processes to identify a replacement side. In a release, the ICC said the decision followed an extensive process to address the concerns raised by the BCB about playing in India. “Over a period of more than three weeks, the ICC engaged with the BCB through multiple rounds of dialogue conducted in a transparent and constructive manner,” the statement said, adding that discussions took place both via video conference and in person. The ICC said it reviewed the concerns put forward by the BCB, commissioned independent security assessments from internal and external experts, and shared detailed security and operational plans. These included federal and state-level arrangements, along with enhanced and escalating security protocols for the event. The assurances were reiterated at several stages, including during meetings involving the IBC Board. “The ICC’s assessments concluded that there was no credible or verifiable security threat to the Bangladesh national team, officials or supporters in India,” the release said. The governing body said it decided against changing the schedule after considering the wider impact of such a move. “The ICC also noted the importance of preserving the integrity and sanctity of the tournament schedule, safeguarding the interests of all participating teams and fans, and avoiding the establishment of precedents that could undermine the neutrality and fairness of ICC events,” the statement said. Scotland, who now take Bangladesh’s place, are the highest-ranked T20I side that did not originally qualify for the tournament. They are currently ranked 14th in the world, ahead of Namibia, the United Arab Emirates, Nepal, the United States, Canada, Oman and Italy.
