Last Updated:January 11, 2026, 15:39 IST
Mohsin Naqvi’s PCB offers to host Bangladesh’s 2026 T20 World Cup matches as BCB refuses to travel to India amid rising tensions.
Devajit Saikia (R) & Mohsin Naqvi (L)
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has reportedly expressed interest in hosting Bangladesh’s matches in the upcoming men’s 2026 T20 World Cup amid the latter’s soaring tensions with India. According to Geo News, the PCB has offered its ‘ready and fully equipped’ venues as an alternative after the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) announced that it won’t travel to India for the marquee ICC event.
The BCB is in discussions with the International Cricket Council (ICC), expressing concerns about the security of its players in India. The ICC and its chairman, Jay Shah, have been in Mumbai, holding meetings at the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) office alongside other delegates of the international body.
Bangladesh are slated to play their first three group stage matches in Kolkata, and the last in Mumbai. Initial reports suggest that the ICC has rejected the BCB’s request to shift them, for now, but the Bangladeshi board has refused to back down, though it’s hard to see it being open to the idea of boycotting the tournament.
It all started with Kolkata Knight Riders’ Rs 9.2 crore signing of Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman at the IPL 2026 auction. Rahman became the target of sustained social media campaigns and public attacks by some religious leaders and politicians, citing heightened anti-Bangladesh sentiment after reports of violence against Hindu minorities in Bangladesh.
The situation intensified in early January when the BCCI directed KKR to release Rahman, offering little explanation beyond ‘recent developments’. KKR complied, calling it an instruction from the IPL regulator, an unprecedented move, as IPL contracts are rarely terminated this close to a season.
The decision angered Bangladesh, with former cricketers, the BCB, and government officials calling it arbitrary and politically motivated. Dhaka also imposed an indefinite ban on IPL telecasts.
India’s relations with PCB and its chairman, Mohsin Naqvi, are already at an all-time low, with similar controversies in the backdrop, especially the Asia Cup trophy row. The BCCI, PCB, and ICC have an arrangement where all India-Pakistan matches in multi-nation tournaments are held in neutral venues, and thus, Pakistan will play the entirety of its T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka.
First Published:
January 11, 2026, 15:23 IST
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