Bangladesh Accuses ICC of Unfair Treatment After Early Exit from U19 World Cup

Bangladesh has alleged unfair treatment by the ICC after their early exit from the U19 World Cup, citing sudden schedule changes and travel issues.

Bangladesh has accused the International Cricket Council (ICC) of unfair treatment after their U19 men’s team exited the junior World Cup in Zimbabwe and Namibia. The team crashed out of the semi-final race following a Super Six defeat against England.

Bangladesh began the tournament in Bulawayo, losing to India by 18 runs on January 17. Their second match against New Zealand on January 20 ended in a rain washout. The team then travelled to Harare and beat the USA on January 23 to qualify for the Super Six. They later returned to Bulawayo to face England.

BCB game development coordinator Habibul Bashar said frequent travel affected performance. Bangladesh also played warm-up matches in Masvingo on January 10 and Harare on January 13. Masvingo is nearly four hours from Harare. The board paid for an internal flight to reduce fatigue before the India match.

“More than the approach, I think our calculations were lacking [against England and India]. But this [travel schedule] is something I want to highlight, even if people think I’m making excuses,” Bashar was quoted as saying by The Daily Star.

“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,” he added.

Late venue switch adds to U19 team’s workload

According to the claims, the Under-19 side was first scheduled to play both warm-up matches in Masvingo. The plan later changed, forcing games across different cities. The revised schedule required repeated travel between Masvingo, Harare, and Bulawayo.

Bangladesh informed the ICC about the physical strain before the tournament began. The board requested adjustments to reduce back-and-forth movement. Officials say those concerns received no response.

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“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,” Bashar said.

“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,” he concluded.