Bangladesh’s journey to the Under-19 World Cup ended amid controversy after the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) raised concerns about the planning and logistical arrangements of the International Cricket Council (ICC). According to BCB, their team faced repeated blackouts due to changes in match venues and intensive travel schedule during the tournament. BCB cited these challenges as follows Bangladesh’s early exit from the competition.
In preparation for the tournament, Bangladesh were originally scheduled to play two warm-up matches in Masvingo before moving to Harare. However, the ICC changed the plan and required the team to travel between two venues that were four hours apart for practice matches. BCB Games Development Coordinator Habibul Bashar said the scheduling was unfair to the team.
“More than the approach, I think our calculations were off (against England and India). But this (the tour schedule) is something I want to emphasize, even if people think I’m making excuses,” Habibul told The Daily Star.
Logistical difficulties were compounded by long journeys between match venues. The team endured a nearly nine-hour bus ride from Harare to Bulawayo during the monsoon season before their opening game. This extended travel time presented additional obstacles to players’ recovery and preparation.
With key matches against India and New Zealand scheduled, the BCB funded an internal flight to ease the travel stress for those particular matches. However, after these matches, the team had to return by bus to Bulawayo for the match against USA on 23 January and further trips continued before the Super Six match against England on 26 January.
Head coach Naveed Nawaz has been vocal about the impact of travel requirements on the team. Nawaz said they asked the ICC about the travel burden but no action was taken.
“The schedule was very unfair to us. During the original plan, we were supposed to play two of our warm-up matches in Masvingo and travel to Bulawayo, which is a four-hour drive, for our opening two group stage matches. Later, they (ICC) suddenly changed the schedule and that meant we had to play two of our warm-up matches in different places and travel back and forth,” revealed Bashar.
“We warned them (about the travel burden) before the tournament started. We asked them to move our practice games to avoid traveling back and forth, but they didn’t listen. You can’t really change these things once the tournament starts.”
Bangladesh crashed out of the U19 World Cup after losing to England.
BCB vs ICC one more time?
The BCB and ICC have been in talks since Bangladesh decided not to travel to India for the 2026 T20 World Cup, citing security concerns. Despite the ongoing talks, the BCB stood firm on its stance that the matches would be shifted to Sri Lanka.
The ICC chose to ignore Bangladesh’s demands, forcing BCB to boycott the T20 World Cup, which eventually led to their expulsion from the tournament. Bangladesh was replaced by Scotland at the ICC event.
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Published on:
January 28, 2026
