Bangladesh regretting T20 World Cup snub? Sports ministry to review boycott stance
India Today
Bangladesh sports minister Anamul Haque orders probe into the country's T20 World Cup boycott and BCB elections, plans talks with ICC over board's future and governance issues. Haque wants to see if there was a failure of sports diplomacy in the call.
Bangladesh sports minister Aminul Haque plans to set up a second committee to investigate why Bangladesh was unable to participate in this year's T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka. Haque said that a second committee will be formed to look into the boycott call and see if the withdrawal from the event amounted to a failure of sports diplomacy.
Bangladesh's decision to snub the T20 World Cup came from Mustafizur Rahman's unceremonious exit from IPL, forcing them to ask for a change in venue from India. The ICC decided to reject Bangladesh's request and this forced the BCB to continue with their stance of boycotting the tournament. They were replaced by Scotland in the tournament.
Haque said that the matter will be investigated after Eid and such a mistake will not be repeated in the future.
"We will try to find out why we didn't go to the World Cup. We have to understand why our sports diplomacy fell short. We will form an investigation committee on this subject after Eid. We have to strengthen our sports diplomacy and make sure we don't repeat this mistake in the future."
On March 11, the sports ministry decided to form an investigation committee to look into allegations about irregularities, abuse and manipulation of power during the BCB elections last year. This caused the board to react strongly, saying that the move to form the committee amounted to interference from the government. Haque said that once the committee submits their report within 15 working days, he will discuss the matter with the ICC.
"We are all aware of direct interference from our previous government in the BCB elections last year," Haque said. "I have spoken about it on a number of occasions. Following allegations from Dhaka clubs and the districts, we have formed an investigation committee. I will read their report, but my next step will come after I have spoken to the ICC."
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