Bangladesh has officially announced that they will boycott the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, which will be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka.
The BCB vs BCCI issue, which started with Mustafizur Rahman being dropped from the IPL due to the growing anti-Bangladesh roar in the country, took a major turn as Bangladesh threatened the ICC to withdraw from the competition if their demands were not met.
Their most prominent demand was to not travel to India, where their group-stage matches were scheduled to take place, citing security reasons for the development. However, the ICC reviewed the security arrangements and ruled out any risk to the team. After this, he also ignored BCB’s petition to change the venue.
Bangladesh government announces boycott of ICC T20 World Cup
BCB had issued an ultimatum to ICC that they would not step back even an inch and ICC would have to accept their demands. ICC also refused to drop BCB’s wrong demands. The feud had to end eventually with one side giving up or giving in.
The Bangladesh government, after discussions with their national players and the BCB, has finally officially confirmed that their team will not be traveling to India for the ICC tournament and hence, they are boycotting the upcoming T20 World Cup.
“We cannot give up the safety of our players,” says sports consultant Asif Nazrul.
The BCB president said, “The ICC had rejected our request to shift our matches away from India. We are not sure about the state of world cricket. Its popularity is declining. They have locked out 200 million people. Cricket is going to the Olympics, but if a country like ours is not going there, it is a failure of the ICC. We will continue to communicate with the ICC. We want to play in the World Cup. But we will not play in India.”
“We will keep fighting. There were some shocking calls in the ICC board meeting. The Mustafizur issue is not an isolated issue. They (India) were the sole decision makers on that issue.”
The Bangladesh government has announced that their team is boycotting the World Cup.
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– Vikrant Gupta (@vikrantgupta73) 22 January 2026
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