PCB's Big Move As Bangladesh Demand To Move Their T20 World Cup Matches Out Of India: Report

In the aftermath of the Mustafizur Rahman controversy, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has already showed its unwillingness to send the senior national team in India for its T20 World Cup matches. Notably, Indian Premier League (IPL) side Kolkata Knight Riders released Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur from their squad on the advice of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) last week. The decision led to a massive row and the BCB decided to request the International Cricket Council (ICC) to shift their T20 World Cup 2026 games from India to Sri Lanka due to security concerns.

Bilateral tensions between India and Bangladesh has escalated over the past few weeks after a Hindu man was lynched and burned to death. Since the first incident a few weeks ago, a number of Hindu minorities have been attacked and killed in Bangladesh. Since the first incident was reported, KKR and their co-owner Shah Rukh Khan were being targeted on social media, with the BCCI finally taking the decision to release Mustafizur.

It was the BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia who announced the big decision on Saturday. He said: "Due to the recent developments that are going on all across, BCCI has instructed the franchise KKR to release one of their players, Mustafizur Rahman of Bangladesh, from their squad."

Now, a report in Geo Super has claimed that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has now shown its interest in hosting the Bangladesh games, in case the matches are not arranged in Sri Lanka. Quoting a PCB source, the report added that all the venues in Pakistan are fully prepared to stage World Cup matches.

Earlier, Bangladesh government sports advisor Asif Nazrul cited image of the country and security of its players as the reasons behind the move of seeking a venue shift from India.

"We are a cricket-crazy nation and we definitely want to play. But we do not want to play the World Cup at the cost of national humiliation, at the cost of the security of our cricketers, spectators and journalists, or at the cost of the country's dignity," Nazrul told reporters on Wednesday.

Topics mentioned in this article

Cricket Bangladesh Cricket Team Pakistan Cricket Team India Cricket Team BCCI Pakistan Cricket Board Bangladesh Cricket Board