Sawt Falasteen - Bangladesh face deadline over refusal to play World Cup matches in India

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is refusing to play in India, citing security concerns, and have asked the governing International Cricket Council to shift their matches to co-hosts Sri Lanka.

The BCB held talks in Dhaka at the weekend with ICC officials over the impasse, but no agreement was reached.

"During the discussions, the BCB reiterated its formal request to the ICC to relocate Bangladesh's matches to Sri Lanka," a BCB statement said.

The ICC have not officially commented, but website Cricinfo and other Indian media reported on Monday that the deadline of Wednesday had been set for Dhaka to make a decision.

ICC sources have told AFP that Bangladesh could be replaced by Scotland, who are the highest-ranked team who did not qualify for the World Cup.

The T20 World Cup begins on February 7 with Bangladesh in England's Group C and scheduled to play all of their group matches in Kolkata and Mumbai.

One suggestion was for Bangladesh to swap with Group B's Ireland, whose matches are in Sri Lanka.

"Among other points, the possibility of moving Bangladesh to a different group as a means of facilitating the matter with minimum logistical adjustments was discussed," said the BCB.

Pakistan will play all their matches in Colombo under an ICC agreement with India to play at neutral venues in global or regional tournaments.

The row erupted on January 3, when the IPL's Kolkata Knight Riders were ordered by India's cricket board to drop Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman, sparking fury in Dhaka.

Political relations between India and Bangladesh soured after a mass uprising in Dhaka in 2024 toppled then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina, a close ally of New Delhi.

India's foreign ministry last month condemned what it called "unremitting hostility against minorities" in Muslim-majority Bangladesh.

Bangladesh's interim leader, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, has accused India of exaggerating the scale of the violence.

N.Awad--SF-PST