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Why the Bangladesh cricket team did not travel to India for the 2026 T20 World Cup remains a mystery. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) cited that due to safety and security concerns, they were not willing to send the team to India.
Months after the controversial situation involving BCB, the International Cricket Council (ICC), the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Mehidy Hasan delivered insights behind BCB’s controversial standpoint.
Bangladesh Cricket Board did not want to send their team to India for the 2026 T20 World Cup
Due to the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s decision not to send their National Cricket Team, they were eventually put out of the T20 World Cup. BCB demanded that the ICC shift their matches from India. The 2026 T20 World Cup was jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka. So BCB desired to play their matches in Sri Lanka.
The demand made by the cricket board came only a few days ahead of the tournament opener, with the support of the Pakistan Cricket Board.
Mehidy Hasan believes Bangladesh did not play the 2026 T20 World Cup because of political reasons
Throughout the years, teams across the globe travel to India to play matches here. None of the teams never makred India as an unsafe place to play cricket. Then why Bangladesh Cricket Board claim that?
Mehidy Hasan, a Bangladesh cricket star, mentioned that, more than cricketing reasons, the decision taken by the board was mostly because of political reasons. At least he thought that.
“That was actually, I think it's the political issues; I never thought like that,” Mehidy Hasan said to RevSportz.
By the time BCB went against ICC’s fixtures for the 2026 T20 World Cup, there was political tension between India and Bangladesh. Amid the political tension, BCCI forced the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to eject Bangladesh national cricket team pacer Mustafizur Rahman from their squad for the 2026 season.
The snub of Mustafizur Rahman reportedly became a massive issue in Bangladesh cricket. After the termination of Rahman’s IPL 2026 contract, BCB wished not to travel to India.
ICC tried to convince the Bangladesh cricket officials through repeated dialogues to convince them to take part in the tournament on Indian soil, but the ice remained solid. Ultimately, as the BCB remained firm on their stance, the International Cricket Council, led by Jay Shah, removed them from the T20 World Cup 2026 and included Scotland as the replacement.
"I think everybody has to play the World Cup": Mehidy Hasan on playing at World Cup
Mehidy Hasan further stated that every cricketer’s dream is to play the World Cup, especially for the newcomers who were about to play their first-ever World Cup. Hasan claimed that everyone could sense that the decision to not play the ICC event was influenced by politics.
“I think everybody has to play the World Cup; everyone has to dream. Some of the new players that are coming have to play the T20 World Cup, but it's happened; I think this is the political issue; everybody knows that's the thing,” he added.
🚨EXCLUSIVE
— RevSportz Global (@RevSportzGlobal) July 25, 2026
Decision not to travel to India to play in T20 World Cup was politically motivated: Mehidy Miraz
Bangladesh ODI captain Mehidy Hasan Miraz calls the decision to skip the T20 World Cup in India "politically motivated," adding that every player dreams of playing in a… pic.twitter.com/P0rtZwVDmn
