New Delhi, Jan 22 (IANS) Former IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi has asked Bangladesh to travel to India to play their matches in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, telling them that India is a very safe country and not to politicise the issue.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has sought relocation of their matches from India, claiming security concerns after the BCCI asked Kolkata Knight Riders to release Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rehman from its squad for the upcoming IPL.

The ICC Board has rejected their demand but the BCB on Thursday insisted that there was no change in their stand on the matter of travelling to India for T20 World Cup and accused the ICC of double standard as the sport’s governing body had accepted a similar request from BCCI after its refused to send the men’s team to Pakistan for the 2025 Champion Trophy there.

But Lalit Modi said if Bangladesh wants to participate in the T20 World Cup, they should stick to the schedule as the country is very safe.

“Bangladesh should visit India, as the country is very safe. No visiting team has ever faced any such issue here, and there has never been an incident involving any sporting event. The government has always ensured security at all sporting events. There is no need to politicise the matter.

“If Bangladesh want to participate, they should stick to the schedule. I am confident the Indian government will provide adequate security to all teams, as it always has,” Lalit Modi told IANS on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, Bangladesh Youth and Sports Adviser Asif Nazrul stated that they did not get justice from the ICC and there is no scope to change their decision of not playing their matches in India.

“There is no scope to change our decision. We will go back to the ICC with our plan to play in Sri Lanka. They did give us a 24-hour ultimatum, but a global body can’t really do that. ICC will miss out on 200 million people watching the World Cup. It will be their loss … ICC is calling Sri Lanka co-hosts. They are not co-hosts. It is a hybrid model. Some of the things I heard in the ICC meeting were shocking,” Nazrul said after a meeting with Bangladesh team cricketers and BCB officials in Dhaka.

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.

The ICC Board noted that it was not feasible to make changes so close to the tournament and that altering the schedule under the circumstances, in the absence of any credible security threat, could set a precedent that would jeopardise the sanctity of future ICC events and undermine its neutrality as a global governing body.

“The security situation in India remains unchanged. Our security concerns did not materialise out of thin air. It stemmed from a real incident,” Nazrul added.

–IANS

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