Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Tamim Iqbal has stated that the proposed India white-ball tour of Bangladesh will happen and revealed that the BCB and BCCI remain in regular communication over finding a fresh window.

The series can no longer take place during the August–September timeframe when India was supposed to travel to Bangladesh for three ODIs and three T20Is.

There have been concerns about whether the tour would eventually be canceled completely due to the tense political ties between the neighboring nations. However, Tamim rejected claims that a decision of this kind had already been made.

“That it won't happen hasn't been decided yet. Still, let me give a quick piece of information. Both boards are very sincere about this thing happening. Both BCCI and BCB, and we are looking at windows as well, which time what can be done. Roughly a date, around which we are also thinking whether it can be done at this time or not. If I saw the intention was negative, then today I wouldn't even have said this word to you: ‘Let's see what happens; we're hopeful.’ I wouldn't have even said this word. Intentions are very positive,” Tamim told Not Out Noman.

While acknowledging that the cricket board had no direct control over some aspects of the situation, Tamim insisted that talks between the two bodies were still going on.

“There are certain things that are beyond our control. And I never want to cross that line as BCB president, okay? But intentions are good; we are continuously communicating. Dates are also being figured out because Bangladesh is also busy; they are also busy. Bangladesh has three series in between. They, as well as India and the BCCI, stay very busy with their matches. But we are having a regular discussion regarding this,” he added.

Tamim also gave a startling critique of Bangladesh's handling of the 2026 T20 World Cup standoff, stating that the squad "should have definitely played" the competition and that the negotiations should have been handled far more skillfully.

Following the issue surrounding Mustafizur Rahman's dismissal from the Kolkata Knight Riders team, Bangladesh has requested that their games be moved outside of India, citing security issues. Bangladesh was finally replaced in the tournament by Scotland after the ICC denied the relocation request.

“I feel that we could have negotiated the thing much better. Look, Mustafizur's issue was obviously something that the whole country was disappointed with. And I say today as well; I said that day too, it should never have happened. This was in no way the right thing to do; this should never have been done.

But we are going to play a World Cup. Every single person in Bangladesh celebrated like anything when we first qualified for the World Cup. It may be that now every two years a T20 World Cup happens, or every four years it happens, but it is a World Cup Bangladesh is going to represent,” Iqbal said.

Tamim said the previous negotiations reached an irreversible stage far too early.

“I feel we probably could have dealt with it better. We went to a point of no return right from the beginning,” he said.

Tamim, who is now a member of the ICC setup in his role as president of the BCB, claimed to have discovered information about the negotiations that was not known to the general public.

“There were a lot of things said and done during those negotiations, which, if I make them public, you will be surprised. I won't be able to do it because I come back to that fact; I need to maintain that respect. You will be surprised at what things were said, but let's not go into that discussion,” Tamim said.

Tamim further added that sporting relationships shouldn’t be affected by political disputes and repeated that Bangladesh should’ve found a way to participate in the T20 World Cup.

“If you go to a point of no return on the very first day, then that won't happen. And I feel in some cases, sports should remain as sports. So whenever this topic comes up, I say the same thing again, that we should have definitely played the World Cup. We should have definitely done the negotiation in a better way. And that's it; I cannot say many things even though I know them,” Tamim stated.

Bangladesh recently won their maiden Test in Australia in Mackay and managed to draw the two-Test series 1-1 in an amazing performance down under. Their next assignment will be the all-format tour of South Africa.

(PTI inputs)