The International Cricket Council (ICC) has refused to grant accreditation to Bangladeshi journalists to cover the upcoming T20 World Cup, leaving the country’s sports media community in shock.
The revelation came two days after the world’s top cricket body replaced Bangladesh with Scotland, apparently the first of several consequences the country may face for not sending its team to India to play the tournament on security grounds.
Bangladeshi journalists had applied for accreditation to cover the event, which begins on 7 February. The ICC’s sweeping rejection, however, came as a major disappointment.
While the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) was negotiating with the ICC to relocate the venue outside India, specifically proposing Sri Lanka as a co-host, photojournalist Tanvin Anjum Tamim of The Daily Sun initially received approval for his accreditation from the ICC. However, despite the ICC approving his accreditation and issuing Indian and Sri Lankan visa letters, Tamim was later denied accreditation on Monday (26 January).
Tamim, who also covered the last ODI World Cup in India, told TIMES of Bangladesh that the ICC had approved and confirmed his accreditation on 17 January along with visa letters for India and Sri Lanka. “But at 2:52pm on Monday, they sent a reply saying my accreditation had been rejected. This is a very strange decision. I am now even concerned about whether they will grant accreditation for upcoming ICC events,” he said.
Bangladesh is not playing in the international event but remains a member of the ICC, and journalists from the country are entitled to cover the tournament, as they have done in the past. However, the governing body of world cricket, now headed by Joy Saha, the son of India’s Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah, has taken such a drastic decision.
There was a time when Bangladesh did not take part in ICC major tournaments, yet Bangladeshi journalists still received accreditation abroad.
Veteran sports journalist Arifur Rahman Babu, who has covered Bangladesh cricket for 34 years, recalled: “In 1996, when Bangladesh did not play in the World Cup and relations with Pakistan were difficult, and even though our government had changed, I, along with Utpal Shubhra and Dilu Khandakar, covered the tournament. We covered the group stage, semi-finals and final without restrictions.”
Babu, the current president of the Bangladesh Sports Journalists Association (BSJA) and special correspondent of Jaagonews24.com, expressed his disappointment, saying: “I saw the news. I am shocked and stunned. Even when Bangladesh did not participate, we used to cover ICC events.”
“Yes, the situation is different now, but why should our World Cup accreditation be rejected entirely? Even if we did not go to India, we could have covered the event in Sri Lanka,” he added.
Although the ICC sent BCB’s security department a security assessment report prepared by an independent firm stating that there would be a mild to moderate security risk for spectators and journalists if matches were held in India, the ICC ultimately did not take this into consideration.
So far, neither the ICC nor the BCB has issued any official comment regarding the mass rejection of Bangladeshi journalists.
However, the Indian High Commission in Dhaka said it had issued visas to four Bangladeshi umpires following their applications. One official of the High Commission, speaking on condition of anonymity, told TIMES that it had not received any applications from journalists to cover the ICC T20 World Cup. “So, there is no question of rejecting visas,” the official said.
Sports, a victim of politics
Bangladesh and India have long grappled with several complex and sensitive bilateral issues, including water sharing, border security and migration. Sports, however, has traditionally remained outside the scope of such disputes.
That long-standing exception now appears to be eroding, with sports increasingly drawn into political contention.
A former diplomat observed that sport has become a political and potentially contentious issue, warning that this shift could have repercussions for bilateral relations. “Once sports is politicised, it inevitably affects the overall relationship between the two countries,” he said.
Another diplomat expressed concern that failing to address the issue at an early stage could allow it to escalate into a far more serious problem. “Sports resonates deeply with the general public. Many people may not fully grasp the complexities of water sharing or security matters, but everyone understands sports,” he noted.
He cautioned that if sports continues to be entangled in political disputes, it could have a lasting negative impact on public perceptions on both sides of the border.
