India, Jan. 24 -- Bangladesh's exit from the T20 World Cup 2026 sparked an argument that sounds intuitive in the public arena: If India and Pakistan are allowed play at neutral venues, why couldn't Bangladesh be granted the same relief?

The problem is that the India-Pakistan arrangement is not an emergency concession. It is a pre-approved tournament framework. Bangladesh's request, however, was treated as a late-stage exception - and in ICC governance, policy and exception live in different universes.

The India-Pakistan neutral venue mechanism sits inside an agreed, board-approved structure for a defined cycle of ICC events. In plain terms, it is baked into how those tournaments are designed to run, including who plays where, and under ...