Last Updated on 3 months ago by Charbel Coorey

The Bangladesh government is firm on its stance that its cricket team will not travel to India for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.

After the International Cricket Council (ICC) gave a one-day ultimatum to BCB and the Bangladesh government to change their stance or risk getting replaced by Scotland, a meeting was held between the BCB, Bangladesh’s players, and the government’s Sports Advisor in Dhaka on Thursday 22 January.

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Bangladesh remain adamant: No travel to India for T20 World Cup

Following the meeting, a press conference was held, where BCB president Aminul Islam said that the board will go back to the ICC with its plan to play in Sri Lanka, citing the island nation as being the co-host of the tournament.

“We will go back to the ICC with our plan to play in Sri Lanka. They did give us a 24-hour ultimatum, but a global body can’t really do that. ICC will miss out on 200 million people watching the World Cup,” he said, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

“It will be their loss … ICC is calling Sri Lanka co-hosts. They are not co-hosts. It is a hybrid model. Some of the things I heard in the ICC meeting was shocking.”

Bangladesh are still hopeful of playing in Sri Lanka. The government’s Sports Advisor, Asil Nazrul, stated that it’s their government providing the direction on travel to India.

“We are hopeful that ICC will give us the opportunity to play in Sri Lanka. It is our government who has decided not to go to India,” he said.

The ICC board voted 14-2 in favour of replacing the Bangladesh cricket team, should the government not budge from its stance of not playing in India.

Scotland are set to take Bangladesh’s place. The European nation originally failed to qualify for the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, but are likely to get their chance in India in this edition.