Bangladesh lashes out at the ICC for ‘denying justice’

Bangladesh reportedly has been knocked out of the T20 World Cup and has slammed the ICC for denying ‘justice’ after refusing to shift matches to Sri Lanka.

Bangladesh has been at the top of headlines for its row with the ICC, asking the council to shift the T20 World Cup matches to Sri Lanka over alleged security issues in India. The ICC, on the other hand, remained steadfast in its stance not to shift the venue of its matches. However, reports suggest that Bangladesh has decided to opt out of the tournamentand lashed out at the ICC for ‘denying justice.’

Bangladesh boycotts T20 World Cup participation.

Bangladesh Sports Advisor Asif Nazrul slammed the ICC for denying “justice” after refusing the demand to shift matches to Sri Lanka. His comments came after he made it clear that the Bangladesh government would not grant the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) permission to travel to India for the upcoming 20-team tournament, where the side was slated to play all its Group C matches across Kolkata and Mumbai. Ever since Mustafizur Rahman, a Bangladesh pacer, was released from the IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on the orders of the BCCI, the BCB has been adamant in its demand not to play in India. However, the ICC has refused to accept their demand, giving the BCB a final 24 hours to rethink. On Thursday, the BCB President, Aminul Islam, and Nazrul then addressed the local media and confirmed that Bangladesh won’t tour India. While speaking to reporters, Nazrul claimed that neither the ICC nor the BCCI had made any effort to convince the BCB that their players are fully safe in India.

“We didn’t get justice from the ICC.”

Speaking to reporters, Asif Nazrul said, “I think we did not get justice from the ICC. Whether we will play in the World Cup or not is entirely a government decision. Nothing happened in India in the recent past that suggests things have changed there (security-wise). We hope ICC will give us justice.” He added, “All of us want to play the T20 World Cup because our players have earned this through hard work. But the security risk situation in India has not changed. The security concerns did not arise from speculation or theoretical analysis. They arose from a real incident, where one of our country’s top players was forced to bow to extremists, and the Indian cricket board asked him to leave India. Simply put, he was told to leave.”

Nazrul also said, “Now this ICC tournament is being held in India. No matter how much the ICC says there is no security risk, the ICC does not have its own country. The country where my player was not safe – and where the Indian cricket board, which is an extended arm of the government, failed or was unwilling to provide him security under pressure from extremists – that is the country hosting this tournament.” He added, “Security will be the responsibility of that country’s police and security agencies. So what has changed since that incident that would make us believe that there will be no extremist flare-ups again? They could not protect Mustafizur – so what has changed? How can we be convinced that they can protect our players, journalists and supporters? The ICC has made no effort to convince us. They ignored the actual incident and only discussed their standard security procedures. They did not take a proper position on the actual grievance.”