T20 World Cup 2026 IND PAK BAN: Poison in words, fire in gestures… Pakistan instigating Bangladesh against India

New Delhi: Although the decision on whether Bangladesh will play in the T20 World Cup or not is to be taken today, Pakistan has given its support to the Bangladesh Cricket Board by writing a letter a night before the ICC decision. ESPNcricinfo has learned that the PCB has also sent a copy of the letter to ICC board members. In the letter, Pakistan Cricket Board has written that it supports the stand of BCB in which it has expressed its desire not to play in India at the time of political turmoil in the neighboring countries.

It is understood that the ICC has called a board meeting on Wednesday to consider BCB’s request to transfer Bangladesh’s matches to Sri Lanka due to security concerns in India. It is not clear whether the board meeting was called because of PCB’s email. Questions may be raised on the timing of PCB’s email, but it is believed that it will not have any impact on the ICC’s stand so far of not making changes in the World Cup schedule and not allowing Bangladesh to play in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka is co-hosting the tournament with India. The ICC is firm on this and had made this clear to the BCB during the talks held last week. With the support of the Bangladesh government, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has refused to go to India for the team’s group stage matches. The ICC and BCB have met several times to discuss the issue, with the most recent meeting taking place in Dhaka last weekend, but neither side has changed their stance.

ICC says that matches should be held on time while BCB says that it cannot send its team to India. The deadline for a decision was set for January 21 (Wednesday), less than three weeks before the start of the tournament. The PCB has not commented publicly on the matter nor responded to ESPNcricinfo’s questions. The whole controversy started when BCCI directed Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to drop Mustafizur Rahman from their squad for IPL 2026, for reasons that have not been completely clarified. After this, relations between the two countries deteriorated further. First Bangladesh banned IPL telecast, then Bangladesh government formally announced that Bangladesh team will not play its matches in India. The situation worsened further when players in Bangladesh boycotted BPL.