Media have claimed that the ICC set a deadline for Bangladesh by Wednesday (21 January). However, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has denied receiving any such specific deadline from the ICC.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday (19 January), BCB Director and Head of Media Amzad Hossain said that the ICC had not communicated any deadline to the BCB.

He said, “On 17 January, we had a meeting in Dhaka with an ICC delegation. During that meeting, we shared our position regarding the World Cup venues and informed them that we are unable to play at the venue in India. We requested an alternative venue. We had detailed discussions with their representatives.”

Amzad Hossain added, “They (the delegation) told us that they would convey the matters to the ICC and later inform us of the decision. They did not mention any specific date or when they would get back to us. They only said that they would inform us at a later time.”

Following the decision to drop Mustafizur Rahman from the IPL on security grounds despite being picked at the auction, Bangladesh raised the same security concerns over playing the World Cup in India. Subsequently, the BCB sent a letter to the ICC requesting that Bangladesh’s venue be shifted from India to Sri Lanka.

As no decision has yet been made on the issue, uncertainty has arisen over Bangladesh’s participation in the World Cup. However, Bangladesh remain firm in their stance of not travelling to India to play the tournament.