NEW DELHI: Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Aminul Islam on Monday said that “we do not feel secure” about sending the national team to India for the T20 World Cup given the current situation.

Aminul spoke to reporters a day after the BCB formally wrote to the International Cricket Council (ICC), requesting that Bangladesh’s T20 World Cup matches be shifted out of India. The move followed pacer Mustafizur Rahman’s release from the IPL on instructions from the BCCI.

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“You know that we, along with all the directors of the cricket board, held two meetings before taking this decision and at this moment we do not feel secure sending our team to India to play the World Cup,” Aminul said.

“So we wrote a letter to the ICC, and in the letter we clearly stated what we wanted to say. Because to us, security appeared to be a major concern and that is what we are following.

“We have sent an email to the ICC and we are expecting them to tell us to have a meeting with them soon where we will express our concern,” he said.

Aminul added that the BCB’s next course of action would be based on the ICC’s response.

“But what our next step will be depend on the reply to the email we have sent. We are not communicating with BCCI because this is an ICC event. We are communicating with the ICC,” he said.

BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia, while announcing the decision to release Rahman, had stated that it was due to “developments all around”, without elaborating further.

Bangladesh were scheduled to play three T20 World Cup matches in Kolkata and one in Mumbai.

Placed in Group C, Bangladesh were set to open their campaign against the West Indies at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on February 7, followed by matches against defending champions England, Italy and Nepal.

Relations between India and Bangladesh have turned tense following the ouster of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India in August last year after widespread anti-government protests.

She was later sentenced to death in absentia by a tribunal for her alleged role in a violent crackdown during the agitation, in which several students were killed.

Since Hasina’s removal, Hindus have been targeted in violent attacks.

(With PTI Inputs)