T20 World Cup: Ball in ICC's court as Bangladesh maintains hard line

It may be just two weeks before the Bangladesh men's cricket team leaves for the T20 World Cup in India from 26 January, but there is no end to the ongoing impasse in sight. While the cricketing fraternity waits eagerly for the ICC to make a formal announcement on the status of Bangladesh's matches by Monday-Tuesday, it appears that India's neighbour has toughened its stance about playing in India.

Cricket's global governing body ICC had, during backchannel talks with the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), suggested two alternative venues: Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram in place of Kolkata and Mumbai, respectively, for league matches. However, BCB president Aminul Islam has gone on record to say the solution is not acceptable owing to the ‘’threat perception’’ to the visiting team, members of the media, and fans.

Speaking to local media, Asif Nazrul, the hardliner sports advisor to Bangladesh’s caretaker government, said on Monday: ‘’I already said India means India. We are talking about India: we did not say Kolkata. So our position is, if you change from Kolkata and give us another venue, then it can be Sri Lanka, no problem. I saw in the newspapers, I don't know whether it’s true or false, that Pakistan offered to host our matches. So it can be Pakistan, no problem. The United Arab Emirates, no problem.’’

The Bangladesh government is believed to have forced the BCB’s hand in taking this confrontational line against the BCCI, despite the World T20 being an ICC event. Interestingly enough, Bangladesh’s Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid Saikat was on the match officials’ panel for the first India-New Zealand ODI in Vadodara on Sunday, despite the so-called security threat to Bangladeshi nationals in India.

While the ICC is yet to break its silence on Bangladesh's stand in the wake of the IPL ban on Mustafizur Rehman, well-placed sources say it has already turned down the request to shift the matches to Sri Lanka.

The suggestion of alternative venues hence came up, but it’s becoming clear that the present Bangladesh government wants to use the ban on 'Fizz' as a trump card ahead of the country's February elections. A retaliatory move, in other words, to India’s step of asking IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders to drop the star pace bowler.

Speaking to Cricbuzz, the sports advisor went a step to suggest that India’s hegemony at the ICC has to end at some point. ‘’If the ICC truly wants to be a global organisation, and if the ICC does not rise and sit at India’s command, then we must be given the opportunity to play in the T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka.

"We will not compromise on this issue and when there is no playing environment for one of our team’s players, and the national cricket board of India, a national authority, bows its head to these aggressive communal forces and says he should not be allowed to play there, what bigger proof does the ICC need, I do not understand,’’ he said.

A tough stance which shows Bangladesh is ready to go for broke. The ball is now in the ICC’s court, which is understandably treading carefully on the issue before taking a final call.