Bangladesh’s participation in the global showpiece continues to remain uncertain.
The Bangla Tigers are scheduled to play their T20 World Cup group-stage fixtures in Kolkata and Mumbai. However, the BCB has refused to travel to India, citing securing concerns. Instead, the board want its matches to be moved to Sri Lanka.
The tiff had begun earlier this month when, on the BCCI's instruction, KKR released Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman from their IPL 2026 roster.
Amid the standoff, ESPNcricinfo reported on Sunday (January 18) that the ICC officials informed the Bangladesh board of January 21 deadline during meetings in Dhaka over the weekend.
The report also claimed that the apex body did not agree to having Bangladesh and Ireland switch groups, taking Bangladesh to Group B and making them play games in Sri Lanka. The ICC is understood to have assured BCB that India pose no security threats to the Bangladesh team.
The dialogue concluded with the ICC telling the BCB to decide on its participation, or else be replaced in the tournament by another team.
A day later, however, the BCB media committee chairman categorically denied being given any sort of deadline by the ICC representatives.
“Last Saturday, on January 17, an ICC representative came, and our cricket board representatives held a meeting with him. Regarding World Cup participation, there was an issue with the venue, and we informed them of our reluctance to play there. We requested an alternate venue, and we held detailed discussions with the representatives," the Daily Star quoted BCB media committee chairman Amjad Hossain as saying.
"They told us that they will inform the ICC about the issues and will let us know about the decision later on. In regard to these talks, they haven’t mentioned a specific date or when they will let us know. They just told us that they will let us know when the next discussion will take place. Thank you,” he added.
The ICC delegation, comprising Gaurav Saxena, General Manager, Events and Corporate Communications, and Andrew Ephgrave, General Manager of the Integrity Unit, visited Dhaka on January 17.
The BCB then issued a statement, confirming that they had indeed asked the global governing body to consider switching groups and placing Bangladesh in Ireland's place in Group B, allowing all of their games to be held in Sri Lanka.
However, media reports later claimed that the ICC had informed Cricket Ireland that its group would not be swapped for the tournament.
Bangladesh are slotted in Group C alongside England, Nepal, Italy and the West Indies. Their campaign will begin on the opening day of the tournament against the West Indies.