World T20: Bangladesh risks exit as ICC board votes down request

Bangladesh cricket has plumbed new depths of uncertainty as the national team now stands on the brink of being the first country to be thrown out of an ICC World Cup. The board of the International Cricket Council (ICC), which virtually held an emergency meeting on Wednesday, voted down the country's repeated request to relocate its matches to Sri Lanka from India, and issued a final deadline of 24 hours for the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) to make up its mind.

The BCB, acting under duress as per directives from the country's caretaker government, can take up the issue with the powers that-be and come up with a change of heart, or else a replacement team will be inducted. For now, Scotland is tipped to replace Bangladesh in Group C should the latter fail to comply with the deadline.

The BCB's brinkmanship, in protest against the BCCI's diktat to drop Bangladeshi cricketer Mustafizur Rehman from the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL, has continued for nearly three weeks now despite the world governing body's assurance on the security front, and suggesting alternative venues where the team can play in India.

While the BCB argument had some merit in view of the ban on Mustafizur, the players’ community was not in sync with such a rigid stance, with a feeling in Bangladesh's cricketing circles that pragmatism should have been the need of the hour. The despondency among players was apparent when the T20 captain Litton Das admitted at a media interaction during the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) that he was ‘’not sure’’ about playing in the marquee event.

In a statement, the ICC said: ‘’The decision was taken after considering all security assessments conducted, including independent reviews, all of which indicated there was no threat to Bangladesh players, media persons, officials and fans at any of the tournament venues in India.’’

Informed sources revealed that Bangladesh's request for relocation received only two votes from a 16-member board — the second coming from Pakistan. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), meanwhile, is believed to have dashed off an email to ICC lending its support to the BCB.

With Bangladesh's sports advisor on Tuesday reiterating the government’s stance of not playing in India, it’s almost certain that Bangladesh is ready to go for broke. The BCB had floated the idea of a group swap with Ireland, which plays all its games in Sri Lanka, but on that very day, Cricket Ireland had said it had assurances from the ICC that its schedule would not change. The same point was reiterated at the meeting.

An ICC spokesperson, meanwhile, was also dismissive of the BCB’s insistence on linking Mustafizur’s exclusion from the IPL to a possible security threat to all Bangladeshi players in India. ‘’Over the past several weeks, the ICC has engaged with the BCB in sustained and constructive dialogue, with the clear objective of enabling Bangladesh’s participation in the tournament,’’ the spokesperson said.  

Bangladesh are scheduled to play three of their four group stage fixtures in Kolkata on 7, 9 and 14 February against the West Indies, Italy and England, in that order, before travelling to Mumbai for a final group clash against Nepal, scheduled at the Wankhede Stadium on 17 February.