Bangladesh sports minister aims to 'resolve issue' and restore 'friendly relations' with India

Bangladesh's newly appointed sports minister, Aminul Haque, wants to resolve the ongoing issue and restore friendly relations with India, alluding to the Litton Das-led side's non-participation at the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026. 

He revealed that he held a "cordial conversation" with the deputy high commissioner of India and wanted to resolve the ongoing conflict by engaging in meaningful discussions.

"After taking the oath today, I met with the deputy high commissioner of India at the Parliament building. I discussed the T20 World Cup with him," Aminul was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. "It was a cordial conversation. I told him that we want to resolve this issue quickly through discussions because we want to maintain friendly relations with all our neighbouring countries."

For the unversed, Bangladesh were replaced by Scotland at the ICC Men's T20 World Cup after the BCB refused to travel to India for their group-stage fixtures and demanded a relocation of their matches to a different venue, citing security concerns.

Despite ICC's reassurance of the security situation in India, the BCB, backed by the country's political authority, remained firm on its stance, and therefore, Bangladesh was eventually replaced by Scotland.

The controversy erupted after Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) removed Bangladesh speedster Mustafizur Rahman from their squad as per the instructions laid out by the BCCI. In a retaliatory move, Bangladesh imposed a ban on the broadcast of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The situation diffused to an extent after the ICC decided not to penalise BCB for their refusal to travel to India and awarded them the hosting rights for an additional ICC event, prior to the ICC Men's ODI World Cup 2031, which they are set to co-host with India.

"From sports to all other sectors, we want to build a sincere and cordial relationship [with India]," Aminul added. "You know that because of diplomatic complications, we could not play in the World Cup. If those issues had been discussed and settled earlier, our team might have participated."