Is BCB Using the India Pakistan Stage to Reset Relations with BCCI?

ByAnupam Pandey,SportsCafe Editor

Today at 5:20 PM

The high stakes clash between India and Pakistan is all set to take place on 15 February. Even after boycott talks from the PCB, the Government of Pakistan and the board finally agreed to play the game against India. Reports claim that the BCB will also be present in this game and hold talks with the BCCI to address the strained relations.

The T20 World Cup is about to get more intense, as India and Pakistan, two arch rivals, will be going against each other. This match will be taking place on 15 February at 7:00 PM IST, as it will be played again at a neutral ground in Colombo. While the match stands a few days away, the drama surrounding the same also ended approximately three days back.

Pakistan had confirmed that they won't be taking the field against India on 15 February. But it didn't take them much time to reverse their decision of not participating in the tournament. With the match being on, the Bangladesh Cricket Board might use it to their advantage to ease their tensions with the BCCI.

India Pakistan Clash Back on the Cards

Once again in the T20 World Cup, India and Pakistan were all set to face each other. But right before the tournament started, several controversies erupted. Bangladesh had decided not to play their games in India, and they cited security concerns for the same. Eventually, they were replaced by Scotland right before the tournament was set to commence.

Bangladesh team got the support of Pakistan Cricket Board in this matter. The PCB made it clear that they won't be taking the field for the match against India. Since it was a T20 World Cup clash, the ICC immediately intervened to ensure that the match takes place. A meeting took place between the ICC and PCB, to ensure the match takes place.

In this meeting, it was also reported that the BCB members participated and they convinced the PCB to play the game against India. It was confirmed by the ICC in an announcement that the clash between India and Pakistan will take place and no boycott will happen. Along with that, the announcement also said that no sanctions or penalties have been imposed on the BCB.

BCB to Attend El Clásico

Bangladesh is not a part of the T20 World Cup this time, as they didn't want to play their games in India. Despite their repeated requests to shift their venue from India to Sri Lanka, the ICC denied them. Eventually, Bangladesh made an announcement that they won't participate in the tournament if the matches are in India. Due to this reason, they got replaced by Scotland.

And now, the board wants to ease its tensions with the BCCI. The head of the BCB said that the board played a vital role to convince Pakistan to play the T20 World Cup match. It was also confirmed by Aminul in a statement which went public a few hours back.

He said, “The ICC has taken a decision. The major stakeholders of the ICC are these five Asian countries (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan) and for the India-Pakistan match on the 15th in the World Cup, they want representatives of all five Asian countries to be present at the ground together, watch the match together and talk to one another. You can consider it as something like that (an ice breaker between us).”

Aminul also talked about a MoU which could be signed in this game. He said, “We will also enter into an agreement. The agreement will be line by line, an MoU-type [Memorandum of Understanding] document, so that there is no uncertainty. You know that earlier when we held the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Annual General Meeting in Dhaka, a similar issue arose. There as well, we prepared a MoU-type document so that no one could ever deviate from the contract in any way.”

How the Tensions between BCCI & BCB Increased?

The tensions between India and Bangladesh were tense, which even led to an increase in the tensions between the two boards. Mustafizur Rahman was among the Bangladeshi players who participated in the IPL auction. He was also bought by the Kolkata Knight Riders in the auction and was ready to play for them in IPL 2026.

But with the geopolitical tensions increasing between the two countries, the BCCI had to step in. They ordered KKR to remove Rahman from the squad, and the team also got the funds back which they used to acquire him to their team. This had fueled the tensions between them, as BCB took the decision to not participate in the T20 World Cup if their games were in India.