Cricket’s most profitable tournament begins this weekend in significantly diminished form, lacking a major qualifying nation and the sport’s biggest fixture by viewership. A web of diplomatic disputes among South Asian nations, including co-hosts India, has cast a shadow over the T20 Cricket World Cup.
Bangladesh were ejected from the tournament by the International Cricket Council (ICC) after refusing to play their scheduled matches in India, citing security concerns amid escalating political tensions. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) requested matches be moved to co-hosts Sri Lanka, but the ICC rejected the request due to an “absence of any credible security threat”, giving Bangladesh 24 hours to confirm participation. When the deadline passed, Scotland were invited to replace them.
Pakistan then announced they would not play their group-stage match against arch-rivals India in Colombo on 15 February. Pakistan’s prime minister confirmed the decision was in solidarity with Bangladesh. The India-Pakistan fixture is historically the most-watched and commercially valuable in global cricket, with over 600 million viewers for their last meeting in the 2025 Champions Trophy.
Relations between India and Bangladesh have deteriorated since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina regime in 2024, with India ignoring extradition requests for the former prime minister. Tensions between India and Pakistan have been shaped by decades of conflict, including a four-day military clash last April. Pakistani players have been barred from the Indian Premier League since the 2009 Mumbai attacks, and India refused to travel to Pakistan for last year’s Champions Trophy.
The dispute places the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) at the centre of a mix of geopolitics, commercial power, and long-running grievances. The ICC said it aimed to avoid “precedents that could undermine the neutrality and fairness of ICC events”. The tournament proceeds without a key qualifying nation and its most anticipated match, overshadowed by diplomatic turmoil.
