The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has reiterated that it will not send its national team to India for the upcoming T20 World Cup, even if the stance costs the country its place in the tournament. The decision was reaffirmed after high-level discussions involving board officials, senior players and interim government sports adviser Asif Nazrul.

Bangladesh’s position comes after the International Cricket Council (ICC) rejected a formal request to relocate Bangladesh’s fixtures to Sri Lanka, one of the tournament’s designated venues. The ICC has maintained that the event will proceed as planned and has asserted that there is no substantiated threat to the safety of Bangladeshi players in India.

Sources indicated that Bangladesh had been granted a brief window to consult its government and reconsider. However, the BCB confirmed that its long-standing concerns over player protection remain unresolved and unacceptable.

Asif Nazrul accused the global body of disregarding Bangladesh’s position, stressing that the issue extends beyond cricketing logistics. He said the country would not compromise on player safety under any circumstances and warned that Bangladesh was prepared to face the consequences of non-participation.

Bangladesh have been placed in Group C alongside England, Italy, Nepal and the West Indies, with three matches scheduled in Kolkata and one in Mumbai. The board had proposed shifting these games to Sri Lanka, arguing that the island nation already features in the tournament’s hybrid framework.

The ICC, meanwhile, has indicated that contingency plans are in place, with Scotland emerging as the most likely replacement should Bangladesh withdraw. The council said it had shared detailed security assessments, venue-level safety plans and official assurances from Indian authorities, all concluding that no credible risk exists.

Rejecting this assessment, Nazrul pointed to a past IPL-related incident in which Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman was withdrawn following threats linked to political protests. He argued that the episode demonstrated real, not hypothetical, security risks and questioned whether adequate protection could be guaranteed during a global tournament.

BCB vice-president Aminul Islam Bulbul said the board would make one final attempt to persuade the ICC to revisit its decision, warning that excluding a major cricket-following nation would be damaging for the tournament. Still, he admitted that alternatives are being considered as the deadline approaches.

With neither side showing signs of compromise, the possibility of a T20 World Cup without Bangladesh is rapidly shifting from speculation to a genuine scenario.