Last Updated on 3 months ago by Charbel Coorey
Nasser Hussain has asked a question of the International Cricket Council (ICC) after Bangladesh were replaced by Scotland for the 2026 T20 World Cup.
On January 4, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) wrote to the ICC requesting that their World Cup matches be played in Sri Lanka due to security concerns. However, the ICC rejected those requests, even offering an ultimatum on January 21.
“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,” the ICC said in a statement following a board meeting where members voted 14-2 in favour of keeping Bangladesh’s fixtures in India.
“The ICC Board noted that it was not feasible to make changes so close to the tournament and that altering the schedule under the circumstances, in the absence of any credible security threat, could set a precedent that would jeopardise the sanctity of future ICC events and undermine its neutrality as a global governing body.”
Nasser Hussain asks whether ICC would have shifted the tournament had India been in Bangladesh’s position
However, Hussain was not so convinced. The former England captain questions whether the ICC would have been as firm had it been India in Bangladesh’s position.
“In the future, if India, a month before a tournament, say their government didn’t want us to play in that country for a World Cup, would the ICC really be so firm, and said ‘you know the rules bad luck, we’re knocking you out’?,” he said on the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast.
“That is the only question. All sides ask for is consistency. You have to treat Bangladesh the same as you treat Pakistan the same as you treat India.
“Now India fans will say ‘cry more’, ‘we have the money’, but with power comes responsibility. If you are constantly knocking Bangladesh or Pakistan, their cricket diminishes and hence those great games we’ve seen in the past between India and Pakistan or India and Bangladesh become one-sided as they have done.”
Hussain also mentioned that Mustafizur Rahman’s removal from the Kolkata Knight Riders’ squad was the catalyst for this flow of events.
“You have to remember where this recent crisis started,” Hussain said. “[Mustafizur] Rahman is playing for Kolkata in the IPL, or he’s in the squad, and inexplicably, the BCCI say ‘no, we’re going to take him out of that squad’ because of the ongoing situation with Bangladesh and India.
“Everything after that one decision snowballed.”
Michael Atherton, however, believes it goes back to the 2025 Champions Trophy.
“Well actually, you need to go back further to the Champions Trophy because India not going to Pakistan who were the hosts, they then are given dispensation to play all their games in Dubai, which was a dispensation not given to other sides in the past who’d stepped away from international games,” Atherton said.
“Then when the Mustafizur thing happened and Bangladesh say ‘well our government say we can’t go to India’, they’re demanding the same kind of treatment, albeit this is on the eve of the tournament rather than months in advance.
“So you start from the Champions Trophy, you go through to the Mustafizur decision and then the decisions Bangladesh and Pakistan make… they’re not taken in isolation, there’s context to the whole thing.”
At the time of writing, Pakistan remain firm in their stance to boycott their group match against India on February 15.
You can watch or listen to the discussion below at the six-minute mark.
