DHAKA: Bangladesh have requested their matches at next month’s ICC Twenty20 World Cup be played in Sri Lanka, after India forced a Bangladeshi cricketer to quit the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Political relations between India and Bangladesh soured after a mass uprising in Dhaka in 2024 toppled then prime minister Sheikh Hasina, a close ally of New Delhi.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) held an emergency meeting on Sunday.

“Following a thorough assessment of the prevailing situation and the growing concerns regarding the safety and security of the Bangladesh [cricket] contingent in India and considering the advice from the Bangladesh government, the [BCB] Board of Directors resolved that the Bangladesh national team will not travel to India for the tournament under the current conditions,” the BCB statement said after the meeting.

“In light of this decision, the BCB has formally requested the International Cricket Council, as the event authority, to consider relocating all of Bangladesh’s matches to a venue outside India.”

Bangladesh fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman was on Saturday released by the Kolkata Knight Riders after the IPL team were “advised” by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to do so, following tensions between the neighbouring nations.

Earlier, Asif Nazrul, Youth and Sports Adviser in the interim government, said that Dhaka “will not accept any insult to Bangladeshi cricket, cricketers and Bangladesh under any circumstances.”

“We welcome this [BCB] decision taken in the context of the extreme communal policy of India’s cricket board,” said Nazrul. “The days of slavery are over,” he added, in a statement carried by the state-run BSS news agency on Sunday.

“Where a Bangladeshi cricketer cannot play in India despite being contracted, the entire Bangladeshi cricket team cannot feel safe going to play in the World Cup,” he said.

The T20 World Cup begins on Feb 7, co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka. Bangladesh are scheduled to play their four group matches of the event in India.

Pakistan will play all their T20 World Cup matches in Sri Lanka, part of a deal that allows both India and Pakistan to play at neutral venues in multi-nation ICC tournaments.

India’s foreign ministry last month condemned what it called “unremitting hostility against minorities” in Muslim-majority Bangladesh.

Bangladesh’s interim leader, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, has accused India of exaggerating the scale of the violence.

BCB president Aminul Islam Bulbul earlier said that “the dignity and security of our cricketers are our top priorities”.

Mustafizur, who has previously played in the IPL for other teams, was snapped up at auction in December by Kolkata for more than $1 million.

But BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia said that “considering recent developments” Kolkata had been “advised to release” the 30-year-old.

The 2026 IPL season begins on March 26.

Nazrul said he would also ask that the IPL be blocked by Bangladeshi broadcasters.

“I have requested the Information and Broadcasting Adviser to stop the broadcasting of the IPL tournament in Bangladesh,” he said.

Kolkata, majority-owned by Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, subsequently said that Mustafizur’s “release has been carried out following due process and consultations”.

The cricket row comes only days after tensions between the nations had appeared to have eased.

India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar visited Bangladesh last week, the most senior visit by an Indian official since the overthrow of Hasina.

On Friday, the BCB announced that India would go to Bangladesh for six white-ball matches in September.

Last month, hundreds protested near Bangladesh’s High Commission in New Delhi after Hindu factory worker Dipu Chandra Das was beaten and set on fire in Bangladesh’s Mymensingh district by a crowd that accused him of making derogatory remarks about Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). A total of 12 people were arrested in connection with his death.

Last year, the ICC allowed India to play Champions Trophy matches in Dubai due to soured relations with original hosts Pakistan.

On Sunday, cricket news site Cricbuzz reported that the BCB would ask the BCCI for a formal explanation regarding Mustafizur’s release from KKR.The ICC did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Published in Dawn, January 5th, 2026