With the ongoing political crisis threatening to worsen India-Bangladesh ties in the upcoming days, even the field of sports wasn’t exempt from the repercussions with bilateral cricket between the two countries now in doubt. On Friday, Bangladesh Cricket Board had stated that India will travel to Bangladesh to play three ODIs followed by three T20Is in the first week of September. However, following recent developments across the border, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided to put the series on hold and will seek Indian government approval before taking a final call.
This is on the same day when Indian Premier League franchise Kolkata Knight Riders were told by the BCCI to release Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman from their squad, a player who was bought by the franchise for a whopping Rs 9.2 crore in the recent IPL auction. KKR duly followed the instructions and released Mustafizur, stating “Kolkata Knight Riders confirms that BCCI/IPL, as the regulator of IPL, has instructed it to release Mustafizur Rahman from the squad ahead of the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) season.”
With this situation between the two countries, all eyes will be on the upcoming T20 World Cup which is set to be jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka with Bangladesh’s fixtures all scheduled in India. There’s a question mark on if the Bangladesh team will be allowed to play in India. However, a top BCCI official told the Indian Express that there won’t be a problem regarding Bangladesh playing in the T20 World Cup. “As far as the T20I World Cup is concerned, Bangladesh will play as per the scheduled games in India,” the BCCI official said.
Bangladesh are drawn into Group C along with England, West Indies, Nepal and Italy. They will play their first 3 matches against west Indies, Italy and England in Kolkata while their last group stage encounter will be against Nepal in Mumbai.