Cricket is in turmoil in Bangladesh. Political tensions have seemingly spilt over into the sporting world as their respective cricket boards, the Bangladesh Cricket Board and the all-powerful Board of Control for Cricket in India, are at loggerheads.
Last year, the BCCI instructed Indian Premier League franchise Kolkata Knight Riders to remove Bangladesh seamer Mustafizur Rahman from the squad, which sparked outrage in Bangladesh.
Since, the BCB has asked the ICC to move their fixtures at the T20 World Cup to Sri Lanka, which is co-hosting the event with India, citing player safety. The ICC responded with a claim that the venues in Mumbai and Kolkata are safe, but the BCB doubled down this week and remained firm on their boycott.
Now, Bangladesh's sports adviser Asif Nazrul has confirmed that ICC are taking the issue seriously.
"According to the latest updates, [[BCB President] Aminul Islam Bulbul informed me that an ICC team is likely to come to Bangladesh for discussions," said Nazrul, as per The Daily Star.
"There is no chance of us changing our stance. We are eager to play in the World Cup, particularly in Sri Lanka, and I strongly believe that organising this is not impossible."
But the issue has also impacted the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League. BCB director M Nazmul Islam got himself in hot water on Wednesday when speaking about the financial implications of the players' boycotting the T20 World Cup.
Islam said that there would be no financial compensation for the players if they did not attend the World Cup, and the BCB would suffer. Islam even went as far as saying the money invested in the players had been somewhat wasted, referring to their bare trophy cabinet.
In response, the players sat out two scheduled BPL matches on Thursday, but the situation has been rescued and matches will reportedly go ahead on Friday.
The BCB have since sacked Islam and released a statement saying Islam's views were his own and not reflective of the BCB, as they were not communicated through official channels.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has reiterated that the country's cricket team will not play any of their T20 World Cup matches in India and want their games shifted to co-hosts Sri Lanka.
The ICC has said there is no specific or heightened security threat for Bangladesh playing in India at the T20 World Cup, even though the country's sports adviser said they still have concerns.
Bangladesh batter Najmul Hossain Shanto admits "it is not easy" to perform in global tournaments when off-field controversies continue to haunt the team.
Ross Adair has recovered from injury and has been included in Ireland's squad, that will be captained by Paul Stirling, for the upcoming T20 World Cup that kicks off on 7 February.
