Mark Butcher has said that Bangladesh's exit from the T20 World Cup must set a precedent for future global tournaments to protect the integrity of the game.
Butcher: 'This should be the precedent'
Speaking on the Wisden Cricket Weekly podcast, Butcher labelled Bangladesh's exit from the tournament, two weeks before it was due to start, as "an absolute s***show", and drew parallels to India's refusal to play their Champions Trophy matches in Pakistan last year.
"There have been a lot of pre-ceding events – not to this particular farrago – that have parallels," said Butcher. "Obviously, the India Champions Trophy issue with Pakistan and how that ended up being resolved with India playing matches in Dubai, including the final. We've had tournaments, kind of re-jigged and re-arranged to accommodate one team or another throughout the history of the game of cricket, but perhaps not quite in the way that we've seen in recent times.
"I think the India example for the Champions Trophy, everyone could see that coming, that was so obvious that you could see it from space that that was going to be the position. The ICC had a choice to make at that point – do they do what actually should happen from now on in? This is a precedent that I think is worth following, that when a team – whether it's through their government or it's off their own bat – have security concerns or whatever concerns about visiting a country for a tournament, then basically they should be scrapped and the next cab off the rank qualifies and you go ahead without them. That I think is the precedent."
Bangladesh were replaced by Scotland for the 2026 men's T20 World Cup after they refused to travel to India for the tournament, citing security concerns. After weeks of negotiations, the ICC officially removed Bangladesh from the event last Saturday (January 24), two weeks before they were set to play their first match.
'The integrity of the sport should be more important than where the money comes from'
Bangladesh's removal comes just over a year after India refused to travel to Pakistan for the 2025 Champions Trophy. Following the BCCI's decision, an agreement between the ICC, PCB and BCCI was made which arranged for India's matches at the tournament to be played at a neutral venue. The agreement also stated that all India-Pakistan matches at ICC events between 2024 and 2027 will be played at a neutral venue.
"I'm certainly not being naive in thinking that everyone else stands in the same position in India does because they don't. That's visible from space. However, the integrity of the sport should still be more important than where most of the money comes from. Pakistan are catching heat here because they intimated they would stand with Bangladesh if Bangladesh weren't able to have their games moved. So now what are they going to do? Are they going to pull out? I doubt it, I think it's too late.
"It's a horrible, horrible mess, and I think the only way through it going forward is that if you know for some reason you are the problem, or you have a problem with the tournament or where the tournament is being held or who's running the tournament or whatever the hell else it is then it's up to you. You either go and you play, get your security sorted out as many countries have done travelling to many other different countries, and you play the tournament, or you step aside and somebody else does. I think that's the only fair way to go forward."
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