ICC Will Not Penalize Bangladesh for Withdrawing from 2026 T20 World Cup Over India Hosting Dispute
Kathmandu. The International Cricket Council (ICC) will not impose any form of action against the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) which withdrew from the 2026 T20 World Cup after refusing to play matches in India. The ICC has clarified that it will resolve the dispute arising from Bangladesh's decision not to tour India due to political tensions, stating there will be no financial or administrative penalty.
The Bangladeshi government did not permit its team to travel to India due to deteriorating political relations between India and Bangladesh. The ICC rejected Bangladesh's proposal to move its matches to Sri Lanka and instead included Scotland in its place. This dispute escalated further after Mustafizur Rahman was removed from the IPL.
The ICC issued a statement announcing that instead of penalizing Bangladesh, it has agreed to give them the hosting rights for another ICC tournament in the future. Bangladesh, which is already a co-host of the 2031 ODI World Cup, will get the opportunity to host another major tournament before that. The ICC expressed its commitment to the development of Bangladesh cricket and confidence that this decision will help maintain the integrity and unity of the sport.
Meanwhile, Pakistan had also announced its support for Bangladesh and declared it would boycott the group stage match against India. The issue concerning Bangladesh was finalized following discussions held on Sunday in Lahore between ICC Vice Chairman Imran Khwaja, PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi, and BCB Chairman Aminul Islam.
ICC Chief Executive Sanjog Gupta stated that while Bangladesh's absence is regrettable, it will not affect long-term relations.
This specific news has been automatically translated by AI. As a result, there may be some inaccuracies or language errors.
