Bangladesh Cricket Board president Aminul Islam Bulbul flew to Lahore just after Saturday night 1am to attend an emergency meeting with the ICC and the Pakistan Cricket Board, as uncertainty continues to hang over the T20 World Cup despite the tournament already starting.
Bulbul travelled overnight to join talks with ICC and PCB representatives in Lahore. A BCB source confirmed the trip and said the meeting would focus on the current impasse surrounding the competition.
The background remains messy. The ICC removed Bangladesh from the T20 World Cup and replaced them with Scotland after Bangladesh refused to travel to India due to security concerns.
That decision triggered a chain reaction. PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi responded by signalling a possible World Cup boycott, and while Pakistan later stepped back from that position, the government decided the team would not play matches in India.
Pakistan’s stance has left the ICC staring at serious consequences. Multiple media reports have warned that the absence of an India–Pakistan clash could cause enormous financial damage to the global body.
The ICC have spent days in talks with PCB officials, trying to defuse the situation. Those discussions have yet to persuade Pakistan to shift its position on the India fixture.
Against that backdrop, Bulbul’s sudden presence in Lahore underlines how far the issue has travelled. Bangladesh’s removal, Pakistan’s response, and the tournament’s commercial stability now sit on the same table.
