ICC sets the record straight after Bangladesh journalists claim being denied T20 World Cup accreditation

Here's what the ICC had to say about reports of Bangladesh journalists being denied accreditation for the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) set the record straight on Tuesday after a few Bangladesh journalists claimed that their accreditation requests were denied by the world body for the upcoming T20 World Cup, scheduled to be played in India and Sri Lanka from February 7 to March 8. It is worth mentioning that Bangladesh were shown the door from the 20-team tournament last week after the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) refused to travel to India, citing security concerns.

Bangladesh won't be a part of the T20 World Cup 2026 in India and Sri Lanka. (PTI)

Bangladesh were then replaced by Scotland in Group C. This was the first time any team had been asked to leave the tournament this close to the start of the competition. Days after the dust began to settle, the ICC found itself in another controversy after Aapon Tariq, Sports Editor at Barta24.com, told Hindustan Times that his accreditation request had been rejected.

According to several reports, 80 to 90 Bangladeshi journalists have been denied permission to travel to India to cover an ICC event. However, the ICC on Tuesday came clean, saying the body is just reworking the entire process after Bangladesh were replaced by Scotland in the T20 World Cup.

Even if Bangladesh were part of the competition, it is reliably learnt that accrediting all 80 and 90 journalists would not have been possible, given the number of applications from all over the world for the global event.

"There is a reworking of the process since there is a change in the number of requests and the schedules. The accreditation lists are being worked out accordingly," ICC sources told news agency PTI.

"If you go by country quota, you can't exceed the number beyond 40. The ICC goes by the recommendations of the home board and accordingly takes a call on applications," the source added.

BCB media committee takes the matter up with the ICC

Earlier, the BCB media committee chairman, Amjad Hossain, spoke to the media in Dhaka, saying he has taken notice of the matter and has promptly raised it with the ICC.

"The decision came only yesterday, and we have sought to know [the details]. An explanation has been requested. This is an internal and confidential matter, but to summarise, we wanted to know why this was done," Hossain told reporters in Dhaka.

According to news agency PTI, the Bangladesh media will now once again be required to apply for fresh accreditation, and once that's done, the application will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

Earlier, the standoff between the BCB and ICC concluded with the latter putting its foot down and replacing Bangladesh with Scotland after the former refused to tour India and play matches in Kolkata and Mumbai.

According to the ICC's independent assessment, there was no real security threat to Bangladesh in India, yet the BCB still decided not to travel following Mustafizur Rahman's exclusion from the IPL. Ever since the Bangladesh pacer was left out by the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), the BCB were adamant in their demand to play the T20 World Cup matches in Sri Lanka instead of the pre-decided India.