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DUBAI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) said an internal security assessment found no specific threat to the Bangladesh cricket team in India for the Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, Cricinfo reported on Monday.
According to the report, the cricket apex body shared a security assessment with the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) in which the team has been cleared to travel to India for the mega event.
The internal evaluation found no overall threat to the team, although it highlighted low to moderate risks in some venues and low to negligible risks in others, which fall within standard ICC security classifications and do not ordinarily constitute sufficient reason to relocate fixtures.
Earlier, the Bangladesh sports advisor claimed that the ICC’s assessment pointed out some difficulties for the Tigers during the World Cup matches.
“We have sent two letters (to the ICC), after which the ICC security team have sent a letter,” Nazrul said.
He claimed that ICC cited three potential security implications for Bangladesh’s travel to India, including Mustafizur Rahman’s presence in the side.
“So this statement of the ICC security team has proven beyond a doubt that there is no situation for the Bangladesh cricket team to play the T20 World Cup in India.
If the ICC expects us to make a cricket team without our best bowler, our supporters will not be able to wear the Bangladesh jersey, and we will postpone the Bangladesh elections to play cricket, then there can be no more bizarre, unrealistic, and unreasonable expectation than this,” he said.
However, as per the report, ICC considers that Nazrul’s claims are a misreading of routine contingency planning and hypothetical scenarios.
Later, BCB statements clarified that the ICC security assessment was not related to Bangladesh’s official request to move their T20 World Cup games out of India.
“The correspondence cited today by the Adviser for the Ministry of Youth & Sports was in reference to an internal communication between the BCB and the ICC’s Security Department related to threat assessments for the Bangladesh team ahead of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup,” the BCB said.
“This does not constitute a formal response from the ICC to the BCB’s request for the relocation of Bangladesh’s matches outside India.
“The BCB reiterates that it has formally raised concerns regarding venue arrangements and has requested relocation of Bangladesh’s matches outside India in the interest of the team’s security. The Board confirms that it is still awaiting an official response from the ICC on this matter,” the board concluded.
For the unversed, the entire development follows Bangladesh’s ace pacer Mustafizur Rahman’s release from the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
The decision was taken in accordance with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), prompting a strong response from Bangladesh.
