Last Updated on 3 months ago by Charbel Coorey
Rashid Latif has called for Pakistan to boycott the 2026 T20 World Cup in support of Bangladesh.
It seems inevitable that Bangladesh will not feature in the tournament after remaining adamant that travel to India is off the table. A day earlier, the International Cricket Council (ICC) offered an ultimatum to Bangladesh: travel to India or be replaced by Scotland.
Rashid Latif calls for Pakistan to support Bangladesh
In Wednesday’s board meeting, the ICC board members voted 14-2 in favour of Bangladesh travelling to India to keep their place in the tournament. Bangladesh’s only supporter was Pakistan, who voted in favour of moving matches to Sri Lanka.
Latif called for the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to act. The former keeper-batsman said it’s time to show their support.
“The trump card is still with Pakistan. Bangladesh‘s stance is right. Pakistan won’t get a better opportunity than this. Pakistan not playing would be like stopping the World Cup. Pakistan is the key,” Latif said on his YouTube channel, as quoted by First Post.
“Yes, Pakistan could suffer in the future. There could be sanctions if Pakistan refuses to play ICC events. But there is no use of just words — now is the time to show who you support,” he continued.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) said it will keep communicating with the ICC in an attempt to have their matches relocated to Sri Lanka. However, the ICC were also firm in their stance that it’s too late for changes.
“Let me tell you clearly. It is the government’s decision not to play in India due to security concerns,” said Bangladesh’s sports advisor Asif Nazrul, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
“The ICC hasn’t even tried to convince us. They only talked about their standard security plan, rather than address our specific grievance. The India government didn’t even try to convince us. They didn’t call the Mustafiz incident [when he was removed from the IPL at the request of the BCCI] an isolated incident. They didn’t say sorry about the Mustafiz incident, or even try to communicate with us,” Nazrul said.
“So there’s no scope for changing our decision. We didn’t get justice from the ICC, they are still not allowing us to play in Sri Lanka. There are many instances that the venue has been changed due to security risk. We are hopeful the ICC will take into account our genuine concern, and give us the opportunity to play in the World Cup.”
Bangladesh are scheduled to play the second match of the tournament, against West Indies at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. Should there be no resolution, Scotland will take their place.
