New Delhi: The International Cricket Council is reworking the media accreditation process for Bangladesh journalists wishing to cover the T20 World Cup in India after the withdrawal of its national team citing security concerns in the neighbouring nation.
The ICC is changing the application process even as some of the Bangladesh journalists claimed that their accreditation request was rejected by the world body.
“There is a reworking of the process since there is a change in the number of requests and the schedules. The accreditation lists are being worked out accordingly,” ICC sources told PTI.
Roughly 80-90 Bangladeshi journalists applied for the media accreditation and sources said, even if their team was participating in the ICC event, not all requests could be accommodated.
“If you go by country quota, you can’t exceed the number beyond 40. The ICC goes by the recommendations of the home board and accordingly takes a call on applications,” sources added.
In Dhaka, BCB media Amjad Hossain said he has taken up the matter with the ICC.
“The decision came only yesterday and we have sought to know [the details]. An explanation has been requested. This is an internal and confidential matter, but to summarize—we wanted to know why this was done,” Hossain told reporters in Dhaka.
It has been learned that members of Bangladesh media will need to apply for the accreditation all over again and their application will be assessed on a case by case basis.
“I have covered 8 to 9 ICC World Cups. This was the time first time my application was rejected. We are awaiting clarity from BCB before reapplying,” said a senior Bangladeshi journalist.
As per the ICC assessment, the Bangladesh cricket team did not face a security threat in India but country’s cricket board still decided to not travel to the country.
Subsequently, the ICC replaced Bangladesh with Scotland for the tournament beginning on February 7.