On Friday (20th February), the senior assistant coach of Bangladesh, Mohammad Salahuddin, lashed out at Asif Nazrul over the country’s T20 World Cup miss. Nazrul is the sports advisor to the now-defunct Yunus-led interim government.
He informed that 2 cricketers went into ‘mental coma’ after Bangladesh was kicked out of the coveted cricket tournament.
Salahuddin stated, “Look, when a boy goes to play a World Cup, he brings his dream, his 27-year-old dream, here. You destroy that dream in one second. Fine, if it’s a country’s decision taken for national reasons, they will sacrifice for the country. But if you talk about loss, I will talk only about personal loss.”
Dhaka, Bangladesh: On the former sports adviser of Bangladesh's interim government, Dr Asif Nazrul's statement that the decision to withdraw from the Bangladesh T20 World Cup was made by the players and coaches of the Bangladesh cricket team, Senior Assistant Coach of the…
— ANI (@ANI) February 20, 2026
“Personally, you completely finished a boy’s dream. I know that two of my players went into a kind of coma mentally for five days, completely lost. The fact that we were able to bring them back onto the field in this tournament is itself a big thing,” he emphasised.
“He told such blatant lies. I myself am a teacher; teachers generally lie a bit less. That he would say such lies so openly – I honestly can’t even imagine it. How will I even show my face in front of the boys? He took such a U-turn,” Mohammad Salahuddin continued.
“He is a teacher, a teacher at Dhaka University. A person from the highest educational institution of my country saying such lies – we can’t accept this. How can we accept this? He said one thing earlier and later took a U-turn,” he concluded.
For the unversed, the Bangladesh cricket team was kicked out of the T20 World Cup after Asif Nazrul threatened the ICC against playing matches in India, citing unfounded ‘security concerns’. Eventually, Scotland replaced them in the cricket tournament. Coincidentally, Pakistan hyped up Bangladesh’s antics initially and even vowed to boycott their own match against India. Later, Pakistan not only participated in the tournament but also played its match against India, leaving Bangladeshi cricket fans dejected.
