BCCI awaits Indian government clearance for a September 2026 white-ball Bangladesh tour post-IPL/World Cup row. A backup Afghanistan series in Delhi is planned if diplomatic approval is delayed.
India's cricket board is not in a position to determine whether the men's team will travel to Bangladesh this month or not since the decision is now up to the government.
The BCCI is likely to get in touch with New Delhi to get the clearance for its proposed six-matches white-ball tour, namely three ODIs and three T20Is. According to a BCCI official who spoke to India Today, it is still working on the issue and cannot make the decision alone at this moment. The BCB, in turn, informed that it has sent a letter to BCCI and is waiting for the good news.
The problem arose in January when the BCCI informed Kolkata Knight Riders that the Bangladesh player Mustafizur Rahman should be removed from their team for IPL 2026. The player was bought for 9.20 crores. He was the only player from Bangladesh picked that year, and the news upset many people in the country.
The Bangladesh cricket board got extremely angry and said that their team will not participate in the 2026 T20 World Cup in India. They were worried about the safety of their players. The board even asked the ICC to shift the matches to Sri Lanka. They clearly did not want to play in India in any way. The incident currently revolves around Mustafizur Rahman and IPL 2026.
ICC rejected the request and Scotland replaced Bangladesh instead. Dhaka retaliated by suspending the telecast of IPL in their country. This tour was supposed to be played in August 2025 but both the boards postponed it to September 2026 citing scheduling issues although BCCI was more concerned about the instability in Bangladesh after Sheikh Hasina's departure.
In recent times, things have been calmed down a bit. The president of BCB, Mr. Tamim Iqbal visited the BCCI's Center of Excellence center in Bengaluru. Now, India has resumed granting tourist visas to Bangladeshi citizens, and India invited Bangladesh PM Tarique Rahman to attend the BRICS Summit as a special guest this September. Nonetheless, none of that means that the tour is on the cards.
In case the government is unable to approve things in time, the BCCI has a Plan B - a three-match series with Afghanistan scheduled in New Delhi in the same period.
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