Bangladesh, Pakistan playing or opting out won’t matter to ICC or BCCI: Kaneria

New Delhi: Former Pakistan spinner Danish Kaneria strongly supports the ICC’s stance of not changing the schedule, amid the BCB decision to not travel to India for the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, stating if Bangladesh are opting out of the tournament, it won’t make much difference, adding that “it’s not like they were going to finish in the top four.”

Bangladesh earlier informed the ICC that they would not travel to India due to security concerns amid deteriorating relations between the two nations and requested that their matches be relocated to Sri Lanka. However, the ICC reiterated on Wednesday that the T20 World Cup will proceed as scheduled, with Bangladesh’s matches to be played in India.

This follows the BCCI’s direction for Kolkata Knight Riders to release pacer Mustafizur Rahman for IPL 2026 amid prevailing political tensions between the two countries.

Speaking to IANS, Kaneria said, “There was the issue of Mustafizur, who was with KKR, and the team was forced to sideline him because of the kind of unrest and the public reaction. Shah Rukh Khan, who is the owner of KKR, released him. There was no pressure from the BCCI, nor from the ICC. But for humanity, he did what he thought was right.

“The BCCI or ICC never asked Bangladesh not to come to India. They welcomed them. All the teams in the ICC umbrella get foolproof security.”

Referring to the ICC meeting that followed, he pointed out, “You saw that a meeting took place where all the boards were present—from England to Australia, West Indies—every board that is part of the ICC was there. When voting took place, everyone supported what the ICC proposed. Only the Pakistan Cricket Board voted along with Bangladesh. Just two votes went against it.” IANS

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