The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday (January 21) issued a statement, confirming that there would be no changes to the original schedule of the Men's T20 World Cup 2026, and Bangladesh will have to play their Group C matches in India.

The decision was taken following an ICC Board meeting via video conference. The meeting was arranged to discuss the way forward after the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) had asked that its matches be moved out of India to Sri Lanka.

BCB had made the request following the release of Bangladesh’s star pacer Mustafizur Rahman from KKR’s IPL 2026 roster on BCCI’s instructions. The Indian board’s move came amidst reports of growing atrocities on minorities in the neighboring country.

While BCB had cited 'security concerns' in India to move its matches to Sri Lanka, the apex body categorially stated that India pose no security threats to the Bangladesh team.

“The decision was reached after considering all security assessments conducted, including independent reviews, all of which indicated there was no threat to Bangladesh players, media persons, officials and fans at any tournament venues in the country,” ICC’s official release stated.

“It was noted that it was not feasible to make changes so close to the tournament and that altering the schedule under the circumstances, in the absence of any credible security threat, could set a precedent that would jeopardise the sanctity of future ICC events and undermine its neutrality as a global governing body,” it added.

The ICC also confirmed that its management engaged in a series of correspondences and meetings with the BCB in a bid to resolve the impasse, sharing detailed information on the event security plan, including layered federal and state law-enforcement support.

“Over the past several weeks, the ICC has engaged with the BCB in sustained and constructive dialogue, with the clear objective of enabling Bangladesh’s participation in the tournament. During this period, the ICC has shared detailed inputs, including independent security assessments, comprehensive venue-level security plans and formal assurances from the host authorities, all of which consistently concluded that there is no credible or verifiable threat to the safety or security of the Bangladesh team in India,” an ICC spokesperson said.

“Despite these efforts, the BCB maintained its position, repeatedly linking its participation in the tournament to a single, isolated and unrelated development concerning one of its players’ involvement in a domestic league. This linkage has no bearing on the tournament’s security framework or the conditions governing participation in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup,” the statement added.

The ICC also stated that altering the schedule at the last minute would have been a logistical nightmare and, thus, the call was taken to stick to the original schedule.

“The ICC’s venue and scheduling decisions are guided by objective threat assessments, host guarantees, and the tournament’s agreed terms of participation, which apply uniformly to all 20 competing nations. In the absence of any independent security findings that materially compromise the safety of the Bangladesh team, the ICC is unable to relocate fixtures. Doing so would carry significant logistical and scheduling consequences for other teams and fans worldwide, and would also create far-reaching precedent-related challenges that risk undermining the neutrality, fairness, and integrity of ICC governance," the statement said.

“The ICC remains committed to acting in good faith, upholding consistent standards, and safeguarding the collective interests of the global game," the statement concluded.