With less than two weeks left before the tournament, the ICC has convened a Board meeting to decide whether Bangladesh will take part in the World Cup and, if so, where they will play.
The ICC Board meeting has been called for two main reasons.
First, the ICC and the BCB have already held two rounds of discussions, one online and another during a visit by ICC representatives to Bangladesh, but neither meeting produced a resolution.
As a result, the issue of Bangladesh’s participation has now been escalated to the ICC Board.
The second reason is that Bangladesh holds full ICC membership. Any move to exclude Bangladesh from the World Cup would require consultation with other full-member boards and, in certain circumstances, their backing.
The ICC cannot unilaterally remove a full member that has directly qualified for the tournament through executive action alone.
Currently, the positions of the ICC and the BCB remain opposed. The BCB is unwilling to send the team to India under any circumstances.
The ICC, however, is reluctant to relocate Bangladesh’s matches to Sri Lanka due to logistical challenges. Unlike other disputes where a middle ground may be found, there appears to be no compromise in this case, either Bangladesh must soften its stance or the ICC must.
According to cricket news outlets, among ICC full-member boards, only the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has publicly supported Bangladesh’s position. The PCB sent a letter to the ICC on Wednesday backing the BCB’s concerns. No other board has supported Bangladesh’s request to move matches outside India on security grounds.
