“Potential troublemaker…”- Former BCB secretary slams Bangladesh boycotting T20 World Cup 2026

The former Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB)general secretary and the former officer of the Asian Cricket Council (ICC), Syed Ashraful Haque, feels that their side will now be viewed as a potential troublemaker in world cricket, following their pull-out from the T20 World Cup 2026 in India and Sri Lanka. They have decided to boycott the World Cup after holding a meeting with the players.

The board has stated that there are concerns over the security of the side, which resulted in them writing two letters to the International Cricket Council (ICC) to shift their games from India to Sri Lanka, who will co-host the 20-team competition.

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“It is very unfortunate that the present board is totally subservient to the decision of a government that will not be around after a few weeks. However, the damage left behind and the possible seclusion from the international cricket community will have far-reaching consequences, as Bangladesh will be considered a potential troublemaker in cricketing circles.” Syed expressed in an interaction with Cricbuzz.

Ex-BCB secretary slams Bangladesh’s T20 World Cup 2026 boycott

The Bangladesh side is scheduled to play three group-stage clashes at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata against the West Indies, England, and Italy before flying to the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai for the last group-stage encounter against Nepal.

“Any self-respecting cricket board would have passed on the ICC’s security measures to the team and asked the players to take a call. If they felt insecure, then by all means they should not go, but the decision should have come from the players, not from the government or the board. They have deprived the players of their lifetime ambitions of playing in a World Cup just to suit a questionable agenda.” Syed informed.

The ICC has already made it clear that Bangladesh would need to play the entire tournament’s group-stage games in India as scheduled and has rejected their request to shift the games to Sri Lanka. In case they do not feature in the T20 World Cup 2026, Scotland will replace them in terms of rankings.