Bangladesh fans during a cricket match.
Credit: Reuters Photo
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has offered to host all of Bangladesh's T20 World Cup matches amid "security concerns" in India.
In a formal email to the ICC, the PCB backed Bangladesh Cricket Board's (BCB) stance of refusing to play its matches in India.
"The PCB has said in the e-mail that the demand by the Bangladesh board is justified and must be accepted and that if there are any issues moving Bangladesh matches to Sri Lanka, Pakistan is ready to host all their games," a PCB source told PTI .
Though the PCB did not make any public comments, PTI reported that the Bangladesh government had contacted Pakistan for support in the ICC.
Pakistan themselves are playing all their matches in Sri Lanka under a hybrid model agreement with the BCCI and ICC till 2027.
ICC gives an ultimatum
As per the schedule, Bangladesh are to play all four of their group-stage matches in India, with the first three in Kolkata and the last game in Mumbai.
On Wednesday, the ICC gave BCB 24 more hours to decide whether to travel to India for the upcoming T20 World Cup after the international body voted against the country's request for their matches to be shifted to Sri Lanka.
The decision was taken following an ICC Board meeting on Wednesday, via video conference, which was convened to discuss the way forward after the BCB had asked that its matches be moved out of India to Sri Lanka.
With the tournament less than 20 days away, 14 out of the 16-member board voted against any changes to the T20 World Cup schedule.
Bangladesh has, however, remained firm in its stance and has sought to shift all its matches to co-hosts Sri Lanka.
While the ICC has insisted that the tournament be held as per schedule, the BCB has maintained that it cannot send their team to India.
Mustafizur Rahman suspended from IPL
The issue arose after the BCCI instructed Kolkata Knight Riders to release Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahamn due "recent developments all around".
Subsequently, the Bangladesh government banned the broadcast of the IPL, and the BCB formally informed the ICC of its decision of not playing World Cup matches in India.