This has given the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) an opportunity to address the demand by the Bangladesh to relocate its T20 World Cup games out of India to Sri Lanka by stating that the whole issue is purely under the umbrella of the International Cricket Council (ICC). The problem arises during the times of increasing diplomatic and sporting relations between India and Bangladesh during the recent days.
The poor relationships between the two nations were aggravated when the BCCI ordered IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to drop Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman in their team. Rahman was purchased by KKR at the Abu Dhabi auction at 9.20 crore but was released lately due to the new developments that increased the sensitivity of the issue politically and in the mind of the people in India. The move attracted a lot of attention and this was all the more given that there were reports of numerous deaths of Hindus in Bangladesh thereby aggravating the relation between the two countries.
KKR was criticized when it chose Rahman against the national mood which was not favorable, and this led to the BCCI interfering. After his release, the Bangladesh government, in association with the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) had applied to the ICC requesting that the T20 World Cup matches of Bangladesh be relocated outside of India over alleged security reasons. An alternative venue was proposed to be Sri Lanka.
The ICC and BCB have since remained in constant contact with each other by exchanging emails about the matter. Nevertheless, the decision is yet to be made, despite the tournament being planned to start on February 7, so there is limited time to make logistical changes.
In this confusion, the secretary of the BCCI, Devajit Saikia, came up to rescue the situation and it is understandable that the Indian board is not directly involved in the venue selection or the participation of Bangladesh. The discussion concerned the CoE and other cricketing issues. This is not our prerogative to comment on to the extent that the ultimate decision on whether Bangladesh or not to participate in the T20 World Cup lies with the ICC, Saikia said.
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