The Bangladesh government has decided to boycott the 2026 T20 World Cup to be played in India and Sri Lanka. Asif Nazrul, Sports Advisor to Bangladesh Government, announced this through a press conference. He said that we all want to play the World Cup. The issue of safety of our players and team still remains in India. It started with the removal of a player from the team.

Asif Nazrul said in the press conference, we all want to play the World Cup. The issue of safety of our players and team still remains in India. It started with the removal of a player from his team. No matter what the ICC says that there is no security concern, our player has been expelled from their tournament. That country is hosting the World Cup. What has changed since then? If Mustafizur Rahman cannot be given security, then how can we assume that the ICC will provide security?

He further said, whatever conversation I had with the players is a personal conversation. Whatever he told us, I will not tell anyone. The purpose of the meeting was to know their wishes. I don’t want to put my players at risk. This is the decision of our government. We cannot put our players in danger.

#BREAKING | Bangladesh will not play T20 World Cup in India, decision of interim government of Bangladesh@MeghaSPrasad | @GSV1980 https://t.co/smwhXUROiK#BreakingNews #T20WorldCup #BCM #Bangladesh #ICC pic.twitter.com/Iwxc3LipHK

— ABP News (@ABPNews) January 22, 2026

ICC had refused to shift the match out of India

Let us tell you that Bangladesh Cricket Board had requested to shift its matches of 2026 T20 World Cup from India to Sri Lanka. However, the ICC had rejected this demand of BCB on Wednesday. Rejecting this demand in the ICC Board meeting, BCB was given one day’s time. After this, there was talk of including another team in the World Cup in their place. Now that Bangladesh itself has decided not to play in the 2026 T20 World Cup, then ICC can include Scotland in the World Cup in their place.