Bangladesh players are angry with their government’s recent comments, with sports advisor Asif Nazrul now blaming the players and the cricket board for pulling out of the ICC T20 World Cup 2026.
After BCCI released Mustafizur Rahman from his IPL contract with Kolkata Knight Riders, BCB and Bangladesh government launched a campaign against BCCI and sought an explanation for its actions. However, the BCCI did not bother to respond, as the IPL is a domestic league and they are not answerable to other boards in any way.
Citing this, BCB asked ICC to shift its matches out of India citing security concerns as the major issue. However, the ICC rejected his claim and cited logistical challenges as a major issue if there were changes to the tournament schedule. After this, the Bangladesh government refused to step back even an inch and asked its team to withdraw from the upcoming T20 World Cup.
The government has held Bangladesh players responsible for the boycott of the T20 World Cup.
It is known to the wider world that the Bangladesh government had publicly issued a statement boycotting the T20 World Cup. Sports advisor Asif Nazrul had made it official that he will not send his team to play in India.
However, the ICC replaced them in no time and even with their most prominent ally Pakistan’s tournament back on track, they are probably regretting their earlier decision. Facing the anger of the people of Bangladesh, he made a surprising turnaround where he claimed that the decision was taken by the players and the BCB.
Even before the World Cup, a meeting was held between Nazrul and BCB officials in the presence of Bangladesh cricketers and it was decided to stick to their stand, although the players did not say much on the issue.
Bangladesh players claim the incident is ‘ridiculous’ and they are ‘helpless’
Recent reports have disappointed Bangladesh cricketers, as they were always in favor of playing the World Cup and the decision was entirely that of the government. However, now he is being blamed for the results, which leaves him disappointed.
One player described the current developments as ridiculous. While others graphically claim that they have nothing to say on this, as they have never received support or endorsement from any side. They are completely helpless in this situation.
“It was ridiculous,” one player told The Daily Star.
“You heard what they said. What can we say? We have no one. We are helpless. We don’t know what to say because we had no hand in it.” [World Cup exclusion]. There is no need to pronounce words to understand many things. We did not get any help from any side.” It seemed like an indirect attack on Bangladesh government and BCB.
Asif Nazrul makes another change on T20 World Cup issue
However, they faced another big problem after the reaction of Bangladesh players and even the fans supported their players, Bangladesh’s sports advisor issued a clarification, where he admitted that the decision was taken on behalf of the government.
“Once again, I strongly say that the decision not to play in the World Cup was taken by the government,” he said. He explained himself, claiming that his previous comments had been misunderstood and that his statements were made in response to a question asking whether he regretted not playing in the World Cup.
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