Regarding the continuing dispute with the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) over the 2026 T20 World Cup, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has been quiet. Bangladesh has urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) to transfer its matches to co-host Sri Lanka, citing security concerns as the reason for their refusal to travel to India for the event.
According to BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia, the T20 World Cup topic was not discussed during the January 9 meeting in Mumbai. Vice President Rajeev Shukla, Head of Cricket at the Centre of Excellence VVS Laxman, and BCCI President Mithun Manhas attended the meeting.
The BCCI has remained silent on the subject despite the tensions between the two boards.
The CoE and other cricket-related issues were discussed at the meeting. According to India Today, Saikia stated, “It’s not our domain to talk about that (as the ICC has the final say on Bangladesh’s participation in the T20 World Cup).”
According to Saikia, the talks centred on assessing the current situation at the Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru and discussing how to streamline the upcoming India Under-19 and India A tours.
We evaluated the CoE’s open positions and made the decision to begin the hiring process as soon as possible. We are working to fill the vacancies as soon as possible, however there is a severe global scarcity of technical professionals. We are holding games, including the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy, at the three venues there. We also talked about the future scheduling of the A tours,” Saikia remarked.
The BCB has formally requested in a second letter to the ICC that their T20 World Cup matches be moved to Sri Lanka. Bangladesh will play four matches in India when the competition starts on February 7. The problem has led to ongoing discussions between the ICC and the BCB, with the latter maintaining silent in public while requesting clarification on the nature of the security issues.
The BCB is still split on the matter; one side favours a tough approach, while the other side wants to keep talking to the ICC and Indian authorities to improve security. The BCB has insisted that the governing body has demonstrated a readiness to consider its concerns, even though the ICC has not stated any intention to alter the locations.
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