Bangladesh accuses ICC of unfair scheduling after getting knocked out of U19 World Cup 2026
Bangladesh lost to England on Monday in their Super Six clash of the U19 World Cup and got knocked out of the tournament. After the match, Bangladesh claimed that they had to travel a lot compared to other teams in the competition, accusing ICC of unfair scheduling.
Bangladesh continue to be at loggerheads with the International Cricket Council. They pulled out of the T20 World Cup after the ICC rejected their request to move their matches out of India. Now, Bangladesh have accused the ICC of unfair scheduling after they got knocked out of the ongoing U19 World Cup following the loss at the hands of England in their opening Super Six clash on Monday (January 26).
Habibul Bashar, Bangladesh's game development coordinator, has highlighted the team's hectic travel schedule, leaving the players frustrated throughout the tournament. He also stated that the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) paid for an internal flight to avoid the players getting tired for their journey before the match against India.
Notably, the ICC prohibited domestic air travel this year during the World Cup which required teams, officials and staff to move by bus. "To avoid the boys getting too tired before the India match, the BCB actually paid for an internal flight out of its own pocket because the bus journey was too long and direct flights were scarce.
"The schedule was very unfair to us. During the initial schedule, 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-stages matches. Later, they [ICC] suddenly changed the schedule, and it meant we had to play two of our warm-up games at different venues, travelling back and forth.
"We notified them [of the travel burden] before the tournament started. We asked them to move our practice games to avoid the back-and-forth travel, but they didn’t listen. Once the tournament starts, you can’t really change these things," Bashar said while speaking to The Daily Star.
Travel schedule for other teams lighter compared to Bangladesh
At the same time, India stayed in Bulawayo for all of their matches, including practice games, while Australia played all of their warm-up and group matches in Windhoek, Namibia. They have travelled to Harare only for their final Super Six fixture against the West Indies today. Pakistan also played their group matches and opening Super Six fixture in Harare and will now only travel to Bulawayo for the final Super Six clash against the arch-rivals India. As for England, they played their warm-ups and group matches in Harare and one of their warm-up games was in Bulawayo too.