No India, only Lanka! BCB's 'unique idea' to change group; Bangladesh's new 'game plan'

DHAKA: The India-Bangladesh dispute over the T20 World Cup venue has reached a new level. The Bangladesh Cricket Board, which is refusing to play in India citing security reasons, is putting forward a new formula of group swapping to shift the matches to Sri Lanka.

According to the current schedule, Bangladesh will play in Group C. The Group C matches are to be held in Kolkata and Mumbai. The West Indies, Italy, England and Nepal are in Group C. The matches in Group B, which includes Ireland, will be played entirely in Sri Lanka. The teams in Group B are Sri Lanka, Australia, Oman and Zimbabwe. The BCB's current demand is to move Bangladesh to Group B and Ireland to Group C instead. This will allow Bangladesh to play all its matches in Sri Lanka.

The proposal was made during the discussions between ICC representatives Gaurav Saxena and Andrew F. Graves in Dhaka and BCB officials. However, the cracks in India-Bangladesh diplomatic relations were evident even during the discussions. The Indian ICC representative Gaurav Saxena was only able to participate in the discussions online due to the delay in issuing a Bangladesh visa to him. The BCB stated that they had conveyed to the ICC the Bangladesh government's concerns that the team, fans and media would not be provided with adequate security in India.

Bangladesh's new move also requires the consent of the Irish Cricket Board. However, reports say that Ireland is not in favour of this proposal. Irish Cricket Board sources indicate that they will play in Sri Lanka as planned and will not change the schedule.

The problems were caused by the exclusion of Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman from the IPL by Kolkata Knight Riders on the instructions of the BCCI. Following this, the BCB took a tough stance that it would not be able to come to India for the Twenty20 World Cup. The ICC is likely to take a final decision on the matter by next week.