World T20: Bangladesh captain Litton unsure if his team will be in the fray

While doubts about Bangladesh's participation in the T20 World Cup next month persist, a few sound bytes from national captain Litton Das on Tuesday offered an insight into the uncertainty gripping the nation's elite cricketers. The International Cricket Council (ICC) has now given Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) a cut-off date of Wednesday, 21 January to rethink its decision to not play in India.

Speaking during a media interaction after Litton’s team Rangpur Riders exited the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) in the eliminator on Tuesday, the national team's leading batter candidly replied to a query about their chances of playing the T20 World Cup: ‘’You don’t know, I don’t know, we’re on the same page. The World Cup is still a long way away. We’re not even sure yet whether we’ll go to the World Cup at all.

‘’Everyone is playing the BPL, that is true, but if we had known who our group opponents were or which country we were going to, that would have helped. As of now, no player knows which country we are going to or whom we will play. Like me, the whole of Bangladesh is now in uncertainty,’’ he was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.

Taking it a step further which perhaps betrays a sense of resentment among players about the current scenario, Litton said no buy-in was taken from them vis-à-vis the decision on participating in World T20. ‘’No (consent was not taken),’’ Litton said, adding that he was unsure whether players should have been consulted before the decision was taken to not play the tournament in India, citing security concerns. Incidentally, the stance was reiterated  earlier in the day by Bangladesh’s sports advisor Asif Nazrul, who insisted the government was not ready to change its stand.

‘’I don’t know but there has been no communication with me. Many things in life are not ideal, but you have to accept them according to the situation,’’ Litton said, possibly in an oblique reference to the BCB sticking to its guns in response to the BCCI directing IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders to drop Mustafizur Rehman from the squad. ‘’We’ve played so many T20 matches, the entire BPL, that wasn’t ideal. But we still had to play. What else can we do?,’’ he said.

The battle of nerves between the BCB and ICC has been on for more than two weeks now, with the world governing body sending a two-member delegation to Dhaka to convince the former last Saturday. Informed sources say the ICC was unmoved by the BCB's suggestion to swap groups with Ireland, and is now zeroing in on a substitute team for Bangladesh (Scotland, which follows them in rankings, is in the reckoning).

However, it may not be easy for the ICC to drop a full member nation like Bangladesh, with media reports suggesting that Pakistan, a major stakeholder in world cricket, is willing to lend support to India's eastern neighbours on this issue. There is, however, no credence to the speculation that Pakistan is planning to boycott the marquee event altogether as of now.