\u201cOur only demand is to play the World Cup but not in India,\u201d Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Aminul Islam Bulbul told reporters.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
The refusal came a day after cricket\u2019s governing body rejected Bangladesh\u2019s plea to play its matches in Sri Lanka instead.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no scope for changing our decision,\u201d said Asif Nazrul, an adviser on youth and sports issues in Bangladesh\u2019s interim government.<\/p>\n
The T20 World Cup begins on February 7, with Bangladesh scheduled to play their four group matches in the Indian cities of Kolkata and Mumbai.<\/p>\n
The ICC said on Wednesday it had \u201cengaged with the BCB in sustained and constructive dialogue\u201d to ensure Bangladesh could participate, but added those efforts had been \u201crebuffed\u201d.<\/p>\n
It said \u201cindependent security assessments, comprehensive venue-level security plans and formal assurances from the host authorities\u201d found there was \u201cno credible or verifiable threat\u201d to the safety of the Bangladesh team.<\/p>\n
Nazrul rejected that assessment, saying Bangladesh\u2019s concerns \u201cdid not arise from speculation or theoretical analysis\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey arose from a real incident, where one of our country\u2019s top players was forced to bow to extremists, and the Indian cricket board asked him to leave India,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
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The row erupted on January 3 when the Indian cricket board ordered IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders to release Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman after online outrage by right-wing Hindu groups in India.<\/p>\n
Mustafizur, who was signed for more than AU$1.5 million at December\u2019s IPL auction, was forced out amid claims of attacks on Hindu minorities in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, allegations Dhaka says were exaggerated by Indian media.<\/p>\n
Bangladesh\u2019s refusal has now placed the ICC under fire, with fans accusing the governing body of double standards particularly when compared with India\u2019s refusal to travel to Pakistan for the 2025 Champions Trophy, a situation resolved through a hybrid hosting model. <\/p>\n
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Political tensions have added fuel to the cricketing standoff. Relations between India and Bangladesh deteriorated after a mass uprising in Dhaka last year toppled former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, a close ally of New Delhi. <\/p>\n
India has accused Bangladesh of failing to protect minorities, claims strongly denied by the country\u2019s interim leader, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus.<\/p>\n
The crisis has also exposed deep fractures within Bangladesh cricket itself. BCB director M Nazmul Islam said players would not be compensated if they missed the World Cup, comments that sparked fury among the playing group.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are spending so much money on them,\u201d Nazmul said. \u201cWhat have we done at any level?\u201d<\/p>\n
Bangladesh\u2019s players responded by threatening a boycott of all cricket, unless he resigns.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe remark made by the BCB director has hurt the cricket fraternity greatly and it\u2019s not acceptable,\u201d Mohammad Mithun, the president of the Cricketers Welfare Association of Bangladesh, told reporters previously. <\/p>\n
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Bangladesh, ranked ninth in T20s, has appeared in all nine editions of the tournament but has never reached a semi-final.<\/p>\n
Bulbul warned the ICC the fallout would extend beyond this World Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cBangladesh is a cricket-loving nation of nearly 200 million people,\u201d he said. \u201cIf we miss the World Cup, the ICC will lose a huge audience.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013 With AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bangladesh will not travel to India to play in next month\u2019s T20 World Cup, its cricket board confirmed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":433268,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[2620,226565,226567,1724,24596,226569,64,63,689,226571,155027,13047,226580,132677,226585,740,68470,226566,226579,12180,60064,35895,5951,226583,99086,133419,226564,226572,1209,226576,226582,48517,226577,88422,40425,226568,53402,226570,226573,19765,226584,8536,11883,41886,1736,677,15299,6895,75507,226578,226574,106852,12540,85,226581,1210,58866,11322,29994,226575,12000],"class_list":["post-433267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-agence-france-presse","tag-aminul-islam-bulbul","tag-anticipated-playoff-match","tag-asia","tag-asian-cricket-council","tag-asif-nazrul","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-ball-half-tonne","tag-banga","tag-bangladesh","tag-bcb-berhad","tag-bitter-feud","tag-comprehensive-venue-level-security","tag-cricket","tag-cricket-board","tag-cricket-fraternity","tag-cricketers-welfare-association-of-bangladesh","tag-dominant-display","tag-dominant-win","tag-double-standards","tag-dubai","tag-formal-assurances","tag-governing-body","tag-hobart-hurricanes","tag-host-authorities","tag-independent-security-assessments","tag-india","tag-indian-cities","tag-indian-cricket-board","tag-indian-media","tag-interim-leader","tag-jatinder-singh","tag-kolkata","tag-m-nazmul-islam","tag-maharashtra","tag-mass-uprising","tag-mohammad-mithun","tag-mohsin-naqvi","tag-muhammad-yunus","tag-mumbai","tag-mustafizur-rahman","tag-new-delhi","tag-new-zealand","tag-oceania","tag-pakistan","tag-prime-minister","tag-rashid-khan","tag-real-incident","tag-robert-white","tag-sheikh-hasina","tag-southern-asia","tag-sports","tag-sports-issues","tag-sri-lanka","tag-suryakumar-yadav","tag-tournament-opener","tag-united-arab-emirates","tag-venue-level-security-plans","tag-western-asia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/433268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}