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After the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) refused to send its national team to India for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2026, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has reportedly offered to host their matches in Pakistan. Pakistan are not the designated host of the T20 World Cup, which is slated to take place in India and Sri Lanka next month.
India and Sri Lanka are the official hosts of the showpiece event, which will be played from February 07 to March 08. Bangladesh refused to travel to India for the tournament, in retaliation, after the BCCI instructed the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to release Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman from their squad for the IPL 2026.
KKR roped in Mustafizur for a huge sum of Rs 9.2 crore at the IPL 2026 auction in December last year. They released the players after being asked to do so by the BCCI amid heavy backlash on social media over the rising violence against Hindu minorities in Bangladesh. In response, the BCB refused to travel to India for the T20 World Cup.
While the talks are on between BCB and the ICC to resolve the issue with less than a month left for the tournament to start, PCB has reportedly stepped in. As per a report in Pakistan's Geo Super, PCB sources have formally communicated the board's willingness to host Bangladesh's matches in Pakistan if venues in Sri Lanka are not available.
The report claimed that PCB has said all its grounds are prepared to host matches at short notice. Pakistan are not the official host of the tournament and will play their matches in Sri Lanka during the tournament.
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is yet to receive an official response from the ICC after formally requesting the international body to shift Bangladesh's matches away from India in the T20 World Cup 2026. BCB formally wrote to ICC earlier this month, requesting the body to relocate their matches to Sri Lanka.
Asif Nazrul, the sports advisor to the Bangladesh government, recently said the board wants Bangladesh to play the T20 World Cup, but not at the cost of 'nation's dignity'. Expressing concerns regarding the security of Bangladesh cricketers, journalists and fans in India, Nazrul urged ICC to take cognisance of their concerns.
"We are a cricket-crazy nation and we definitely want to play. But we do not want to play the World Cup at the cost of national humiliation, at the cost of the security of our cricketers, spectators and journalists, or at the cost of the country's dignity," Nazrul told reporters in Dhaka on Saturday.
As per the schedule released by the ICC last month, Bangladesh are scheduled to play their four group-stage matches in the T20 World Cup 2026 in India. Bangladesh are in Group C of the tournament alongwith Italy, England, Nepal and the West Indies.
Bangladesh are scheduled to play their group-stage matches against England, Italy and West Indies at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, before taking on Nepal in their final group-stage game at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
