{"id":421674,"date":"2026-02-12T11:17:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T11:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/421674\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T11:17:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T11:17:07","slug":"we-have-no-one-bangladesh-players-helpless-after-sports-adviser-blames-them-bcb-for-t20-world-cup-ouster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/421674\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We have no one\u2019: Bangladesh players \u2018helpless\u2019 after Sports Adviser blames them, BCB for T20 World Cup ouster"},"content":{"rendered":"

Even as the three-way fracas between the Bangladesh Cricket Board, the Pakistan Cricket Board, and the ICC has been resolved, Bangladesh cricket remains in turmoil after its Sports Minister reneged on his word about their T20 World Cup exclusion. Bangladesh were ejected<\/a> from the T20 World Cup 2026<\/a> by the ICC, after they were adamant that travelling to India wasn\u2019t an option. All this while, it was believed that the final decision was taken by the government of Bangladesh, until on Tuesday, Asif Nazrul backtracked from his previous comments and stated that the BCB<\/a> and players were the ones expressing reluctance to travel.<\/p>\n

\"BangladeshBangladesh Sports Adviser Asif Nazrul (AFP)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision was made by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and the cricketers. They themselves made sacrifices for the safety of the country\u2019s cricket, for the safety of the people of the country. The role they played in upholding Bangladesh\u2019s dignity will always be held as exemplary,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Also Read: Bangladesh send last-minute request to Pakistan, urge them to play World Cup match against India for \u2018cricket ecosystem\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

This contradicts his previous comments, made on January 22, which said, \u201cI am making it clear to everyone: the decision not to play the World Cup in India, considering security concerns, is the government\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cricketers miffed<\/p>\n

Nazrul\u2019s striking U-turn has left Bangladesh cricketers upset, and rightly so. For all we know, the cricketers were willing to take the flight to India, as they understood the importance of the World Cup and the repercussions of not participating. The ICC<\/a> is where they get a major chunk of their revenue, and in fact, several reports claimed that the government was not even willing to listen to the cricketers\u2019 point of view during the meeting. Which makes Nazrul\u2019s decision to pin the blame on the board and players all the more shocking.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was funny,\u201d a player said, under conditions of anonymity, told The Daily Star. Another player said, \u201cYou heard what he said. What can we say? We have no one. We are helpless. We don\u2019t know what to say since we had no hand in this [World Cup exclusion]. Many things don\u2019t need to be verbalised to be understood. We didn\u2019t get any help from any side.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nazrul clarifies<\/p>\n

As expected, Nazrul received backlash for his about-turn, forcing him to clarify his stance. \u201cSince the beginning of January, I have clearly stated in various remarks that the decision not to play in the World Cup in India was the government\u2019s, based on security risks. I fully stand by that statement. Despite financial losses, the deprivation of playing, and the fear of further penalties, they [BCB and players] complied. In this sense, the primary credit for the decision to forego the World Cup, in the interest of the safety of the people and the nation\u2019s dignity, belongs to them. I acknowledge that during the press conference, I failed to explain this properly due to an unprepared response. I reiterate firmly: the decision not to participate in the World Cup was made by the government,\u201d he wrote on social media.<\/p>\n

Nazrul\u2019s statement created a stir at the BCB office as well, with some officials taking exception.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe [Nazrul] had said something different before and is saying something else now. He himself had declared previously that the team will not go,\u201d a BCB director was quoted as saying. \u201cIt was never the BCB\u2019s or the players\u2019 decision to make, so, there is no scope of shifting the responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Even as the three-way fracas between the Bangladesh Cricket Board, the Pakistan Cricket Board, and the ICC has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":421675,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[17266,81096,76816,1721,6518,21243,101,8051,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-421674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-bangladesh","tag-bangladesh-cricket","tag-bangladesh-cricket-board","tag-cricket","tag-icc","tag-pakistan-cricket-board","tag-sports","tag-t20-world-cup","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}