BCCI Top Official's 1st Reaction On Bangladesh's Demand To Move Its T20 World Cup Matches Out Of India

The BCCI top brass on Friday took stock of operations at its Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru, while also discussing the streamlining of India U-19 and India A tours going forward, board secretary Devajit Saikia told PTI. Following the meeting, Saikia was asked about Bangladesh requesting the International Cricket Council (ICC) to shift its T20 World Cup games out of India after the BCCI instructed IPL franchise KKR to release Mustafizur Rahman from its roster, given the prevailing relations between the two countries.

Saikia replied: "The meeting was about CoE and other cricketing matters. It's not our domain to talk about that (as the ICC has the final say on Bangladesh's participation in the T20 World Cup)."

The meeting in Mumbai was also attended by BCCI president Mithun Manhas, vice-president Rajeev Shukla, and head of cricket at CoE VVS Laxman. Key technical posts remain vacant at the CoE, which became fully operational in April last year. The positions include head of education and head of sports science.

"We assessed the vacancies at CoE and decided to go ahead with the recruitment process soon. There is an acute shortage of technical personnel worldwide, but we are trying to fill the positions at the earliest," said Saikia.

Reviewing the operations at CoE and the way forward, Saikia added: "We thought it was an appropriate time to review the preparations and activities of CoE.

"We are hosting matches on the three grounds there (including the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy). We also talked about how the A tours need to be scheduled going forward.

"In certain situations, the A side and senior team are touring together at the same time. We need to ensure that there is no overlap. An A tour is an important supply line of cricketers," said the cricketer-turned-lawyer from Assam.

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team Bangladesh Cricket Team Bangladesh Cricket Board International Cricket Council BCCI T20 World Cup 2026 Cricket