The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Thursday (January 22) announced that it will not send the national team to India for the Men’s T20 World Cup 2026.

A day earlier, the International Cricket Council (ICC) issued a statement, rejecting BCB’s plea to relocate its team’s T20 World Cup fixtures to Sri Lanka, the cost-hosts of the tournament.

While BCB had cited 'security concerns' in India to move its matches to Sri Lanka, the apex body categorially stated that there was no threat to Bangladesh players, media persons, officials and fans at any tournament venues in the neighboring country.

However, BCB President Aminul Islam addressed the local media on Thursday evening and confirmed the decision to not travel to India.

“ICC had denied us our request to shift our matches away from India. We are not sure about the status of world cricket. Its popularity is going down. They have locked away 200million people. Cricket is going to the Olympics, but if a country like ours is not going, it is the ICC's failure. We will continue to communicate with the ICC. We want to play the World Cup. But we won't play in India,” Islam told reporters.

“We will keep fighting. There were some shocking calls in the ICC Board Meeting. The Mustafizur issue is not an isolated single issue. They (India) were the sole decision makers in that issue. We will go back to the ICC with our plan to play in Sri Lanka. They did give us a 24-hour ultimatum, but a global body can't really do that. ICC will miss out on 200 million people watching the World Cup. It will be their loss ... ICC is calling Sri Lanka co-hosts. They are not co-hosts. It is a hybrid model. Some of the things I heard in the ICC meeting were shocking," he added.

BCB took the stance of not travelling to India after IPL franchise KKR released left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman from their squad on BCCI’s instructions. The Indian board made this move earlier this month amidst reports of atrocities on minorities in Bangladesh.

The ICC was clear in its communication to the BCB on Wednesday evening, stating that if they decide not to travel to India, they would be replaced in the tournament by another team.

Speaking to press, Nazrul said that the entire country wants the team to feature in the World Cup, provided the matches are staged in Sri Lanka rather than India.

“We all want to play the World Cup. The security issue remains intact for our players and contingent in India. It started with one player getting kicked out of their players. ICC can say whatever they want, that there's no security concern. But our player has been kicked out of their tournament. That country is hosting the World Cup. What has changed since then? If Mustafizur can't be provided security, how can we be convinced that ICC will give security?” Nazrul said.

However, Nazrul refused to divulge details of the communication he had with the Bangladesh cricketers on Thursday afternoon.

“Whatever I communicate to players is a private communication. I won't say anything they told us. The purpose of the meeting was to know what they want. I don't want to put our players at risk,” he remarked.