Bangladesh blames ICC for 'unfair schedule' after U19 World Cup 2026 exit

Bangladesh U19 blames ICC [Source: @BCBtigers/x]

The Bangladesh Under-19 team has been knocked out of the semifinal race of the 2026 ICC Men’s Under-19 World Cup following their big defeat against England. Batting first at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo on Tuesday, January 27; Bangladesh conceded a seven-wicket victory to England with nearly 26 overs intact in the game.

Bangladesh game development coordinator and former cricketer Habibul Bashar has now blamed the International Cricket Council (ICC) for devising an “unfair schedule” for the 2020 title winners.

Bashar blames ICC, says BCB paid for a flight

After losing to England in the Super Sixes, Bangladesh game development coordinator Habibul Bashar said that he wanted to “highlight” the schedule of the Bangladesh team at the 2026 ICC U19 World Cup.

With Bangladesh playing their two warm-up games at two separate venues, he said that the BCB had to pay out of its own pocket to arrange an internal flight before the Group B match against India at another stadium.

While speaking with the Daily Star, he said: “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. 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.”

Habibul Bashar has criticised the ICC for suddenly changing the warm-up schedule, which prompted Bangladesh team to play both their warm-up matches at separate venues, unlike other teams like India and Australia.

He said, “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.”

Habibul Bashar added that the BCB even requested the ICC to reconsider their schedule, but to no avail. He added, “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.”

Bangladesh’s travelling blues this U19 World Cup 2026

Bangladesh started off their U19 World Cup campaign with a warm-up match against Pakistan on January 10 in Masvingo. They subsequently have to take a four-hour drive to reach Harare for their next warm-up fixture against Scotland on January 13.

With ICC prohibiting air travel for the tournament, Bangladesh players made a nine-hour drive from Harare to Bulawayo for their opening Group B match against India on January 17. While the team stayed back in Bulawayo for the match against New Zealand, they travelled back to Harare with another nine-hour drive for a match against USA on January 23.

For Bangladesh’s opening Super Six match against England on January 26, the players made another nine-hour drive back to Bulawayo, and will now be travelling back to Harare for the match against Zimbabwe later this week.

Comparing that with other teams, India has played all their warm-up and group matches in Bulawayo. The Pakistan team also played nearly all their games in Harare and will only be required to travel to Bulawayo for their final Super Six match.

What’s next for Bangladesh U19 team?

Already out of the 2026 ICC U19 World Cup, the Bangladesh team will now face Zimbabwe. The match will be played on January 31 at the Harare Sports Club in Harare.

Bangladesh will hope to end a demanding campaign on a positive note against Zimbabwe, aiming to salvage pride and valuable experience from a tournament that proved as taxing off the field as it was on it.