Bangladesh Test captain Najmul Hossain Shanto has revealed that their cricket board’s ongoing stand-off with the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) regarding the T20 World Cup 2026 is affecting them mentally. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has requested ICC to move their World Cup matches out of India due to security concerns.
BCB’s move came following BCCI’s decision to remove Mustafizur Rahman from the Kolkata Knight Riders’ squad ahead of the Indian Premier League 2026 (IPL 2026). Amid the entire controversy, Shanto said that the uncertainty surrounding Bangladesh’s participation in T20 World Cup in India is affecting the players’ psychological well-being, but that they are ‘acting’ as if ‘everything is OK’.
“But you’ll see that something always happens before every World Cup. I can say this from my experience of three World Cups – it does have an effect. Now, we act as if nothing affects us, that we are fully professional cricketers. You guys also understand that we are acting – it’s not easy,” Shanto was quoted as saying by PTI.
“I don’t know the details of how it happened, or how it could have been controlled. Still, I’d say that even acting in such circumstances is difficult. With the right mindset, if we go to the World Cup and play anywhere, we should focus on how to do our best for the team,” he said.
Shanto also slammed the country’s cricket director M Najmul Islam for calling Tamim Iqbal ‘India’s agent’. Iqbal had warned the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) against taking any decision in haste regarding their ongoing stand-off with the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India), stating that it could have long-term consequences for Bangladesh cricket.
However, his comments did not go down well with BCB director M Najmul Islam, who went on to label him ‘India’s agent’. Following his remarks, Shanto lashed out at Najmul for disrespecting one of the legends of Bangladesh cricket.
“Very sad, very sad, because such comments were made about a cricketer – a former captain, and in my opinion one of Bangladesh’s most successful cricketers whom we grew up watching. As players, we expect respect – whether someone is a former captain, a regular player, successful or not. At the end of the day, a cricketer hopes for respect. So such a comment from someone who is supposed to be our guardian is very difficult to accept. I completely reject it as a player,” Shanto said.
