{"id":435654,"date":"2026-01-25T02:28:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T02:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/435654\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T02:28:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T02:28:11","slug":"gillespie-hammered-for-comments-on-bangladesh-icc-t20-world-cup-fiasco-but-is-he-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/435654\/","title":{"rendered":"Gillespie hammered for comments on Bangladesh ICC T20 World Cup fiasco\u2014but is he right?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Former Australian cricket star Jason Gillespie has questioned the fairness behind the ICC\u2019s decision to replace Bangladesh with Scotland for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>In a post on his official X account, since removed, Gillespie openly challenged the consistency of the ICC\u2019s decision making, suggesting the move smacked of double standards following the very different treatment of India following security concerns ahead of last year\u2019s 2025 Champions Trophy in Pakistan.<\/p>\n<p>India was allowed to play its entire tournament in the UAE\u2014including the final against New Zealand.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHas there been an explanation from the ICC why Bangladesh could not play their games outside of India?\u201d Gillespie posted on X.<\/p>\n<p>MORE:\u00a0<a target=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/au\/cricket\/news\/watch-bbl-final-tv-channel-live-stream-big-bash-scorchers-sixers\/851b0085eba4b349bde9a042\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Where to watch the BBL Final &#8211; Perth Scorchers vs. Sydney Sixers<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom memory, India refused to play Champions Trophy matches in Pakistan, and they were allowed to play those games outside of Pakistan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCan someone make this make sense?!?!\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" image_resolution=\"16:9\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Jason Gillespie X Post Bangladesh T20 World Cup 012526.jpeg.webp.webp\" typeof=\"foaf:Image\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"image-credit\">          X    <\/p>\n<p>Gillespie was far from alone with former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi also criticising the ICC for treating its member nations differently.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a former international cricketer who has played in Bangladesh and in ICC events, I\u2019m deeply disappointed by today\u2019s ICC\u2019s inconsistency,\u201d <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SAfridiOfficial\/status\/2015137723372507346?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow\">Afridi posted<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt accepted India\u2019s security concerns for not touring Pakistan in 2025, yet appears unwilling to apply the same understanding to Bangladesh.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe ICC should build bridges, not burn them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps unsurprisingly both former players faced rapid and often insulting rebuttals from those suggesting the two situations are very different.<\/p>\n<p>Some commentators pointed to diplomatic tensions created by the BCCI\u2019s removal of Bangladesh fast bowler\u00a0Mustafizur Rahman\u00a0from the Kolkata Knight Riders squad ahead of the 2026 IPL season as the true cause for the impasse.<\/p>\n<p>Whatever the exact reasons, with Bangladesh steadfastly refusing to play in India, Scotland was officially granted the vacant spot overnight by the ICC as the highest-ranked unqualified team.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Scots will feature in Group C alongside Italy, Nepal, West Indies and England.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\" xml:lang=\"en\">As a former international cricketer who has played in Bangladesh and in ICC events, I\u2019m deeply disappointed by today&#8217;s ICC\u2019s inconsistency. It accepted India\u2019s security concerns for not touring Pakistan in 2025, yet appears unwilling to apply the same understanding to Bangladesh.\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Shahid Afridi (@SAfridiOfficial) <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SAfridiOfficial\/status\/2015137723372507346?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">January 24, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>                            <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Australian cricket star Jason Gillespie has questioned the fairness behind the ICC\u2019s decision to replace Bangladesh with&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":435655,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-435654","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cricket","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435654","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=435654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}