ICC yet to respond to BCB’s latest request

As of yesterday, International Cricket Council has not responded to Bangladesh Cricket Board’s latest letter seeking the intervention of ICC’s Dispute Resolution Committee to review the board’s request to relocate the national team’s matches in next month’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup from India.

BCB made the request to ICC on Thursday, hours after Youth and Sports Adviser Asif Nazrul declared there was “no scope” to change Bangladesh’s stance of not sending the team to India over security concerns, saying it was “the government’s decision”.

The previous day, ICC had rejected Bangladesh’s relocation request and set a one-day deadline for BCB to convey whether the Bangladesh team would travel to India for the World Cup, set to begin on February 7, with online reports indicating Scotland could replace the Tigers if BCB doesn’t change its decision.

The deadline ended on Thursday but the game’s governing body is yet to respond.

Yesterday morning, Times of India reported that BCB had sent a letter to ICC, seeking the involvement of the Dispute Resolution Committee. A BCB director, seeking anonymity, confirmed it to be true to The Daily Star.

As per the Terms of References of the ICC’s Dispute Resolution Committee, it is an independent arbitration body that handles disputes involving the ICC, its member boards, players and officials.

However, it is not an appeal body against decisions of the ICC and can only examine whether ICC followed its own rules and procedures while making the decision. 

The ICC had last formed a panel under this committee in 2018, when Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) demanded $60 million as compensation from Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for not honouring a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that required the two boards to play a number of bilateral series between 2015 and 2023. The three-member committee dismissed PCB’s compensation claims.

Meanwhile, Cultural Affairs Adviser Mostofa Sarwar Faruqui yesterday echoed the statements made by Asif Nazrul and BCB president Aminul Islam Bulbul on Thursday, accusing ICC of double standards.

“When India decides not to play in Pakistan, ICC complies. When Pakistan doesn’t want to play in India, ICC complies. When Bangladesh requested the same for genuine security reasons, the ICC has done the opposite,” he wrote, referring to the Hybrid Model in ICC events that was employed in the fallout of India’s decision to not travel to Pakistan in last year’s ICC Champions Trophy. 

“Just yesterday, a West Bengal-born Muslim man named Manjur Laskar was beaten to death on suspicion of being a Bangladeshi, reports The Telegraph of India. Shiv Sena leader Aditya Thackeray on Thursday warned about India playing Bangladesh in Mumbai, the very city where ICC wants Bangladesh to play a match.

“If ICC - International Cricket Council really wants to portray itself as a body that treats all members fairly, it must take Bangladesh’s genuine concerns into cognisance and move the team’s matches from India to Sri Lanka no matter what. The onus is on the ICC to prove its neutrality,” he added.

According to an AFP report, the entire row has also put India’s credentials as a host of global sporting events into question. 

India are set to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games and are also in line to bid for the 2036 Olympics. However, the chaotic build-up to the T20 World Cup and the accusations of political interference could cast a shadow over its Olympic ambitions, reports AFP.

“The Bangladesh issue has reached where it has because it's a political issue. There is no one in the ICC who can stand up to anything that the BCCI says or does. The BCCI and the ICC are the same thing at the moment,” AFP quoted Indian sports journalist Sharda Ugra.

The entire row began after Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman was left out by Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Kolkata Knight Riders on January 3 under the directives of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), seemingly under pressure from right-wing politicians and religious leaders.

BCB sent a relocation request to ICC the following day. While ICC continued trying to convince the BCB to reconsider, the board remained unchanged.