Bangladesh U19 blames ICC for 'unfair schedule' after World Cup exit

The Bangladesh Under-19 Cricket Team has been eliminated from the 2026 ICC U19 World Cup after falling short against England in the semifinals. Batting first at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo, Bangladesh lost by 7 wickets with nearly 26 overs left in their innings on January 27th.

After the defeat, Habibul Bashar, Game Development Coordinator for Bangladesh and a former cricketer, expressed his displeasure with the ICC for putting the Bangladesh team at a "natural disadvantage" with an "unfair schedule." He noted that the team has been required to travel between many cities for their warm-up matches and group-stage matches, leading to increased levels of fatigue for the players.

Bashar further noted that the BCB had to pay for the internal flights necessary for the team to make it to their match against India, since bus rides for that distance would have been far too long and there were not enough direct flights to make the trip. He stated that other teams, such as India and Australia, do not face similar travel challenges.

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Travel Challenges for Bangladesh

The team's campaign started with a warm-up match against Pakistan in Masvingo, followed by a four-hour trek to Harare to compete against Scotland. Because international tournaments require teams to drive between cities instead of flying, the players ended up having to endure lengthy nine-hour drives between the different cities to play matches against India, the USA, and England.

As opposed to most of their games being played in Bulawayo, India has played almost all of their matches in Bulawayo, while Pakistan is primarily based in Harare, creating a situation where the players would be physically and mentally burnt out from the constant travel and thus creating added off-field pressure for an already very challenging U19 tournament.