Dhaka [Bangladesh], February 21 (ANI): The former sports adviser of Bangladesh's interim government, Dr Asif Nazrul, has been accused of misrepresentation by the Bangladesh cricket team's senior assistant coach, Salahuddin, regarding the team's exclusion from the T20 World Cup.

Asif Nazrul mentioned on February 10 that the decision to withdraw from the Bangladesh T20 World Cup was made by the players and coaches of the Bangladesh cricket team. Earlier, he had said that the government decided not to hold their matches in India due to security concerns. The assistant coach has criticised this flip in his stance.

'Asif Nazrul's statement is completely false. As a university professor, I am truly baffled as to how he could tell such a blatant lie. I believe this was a decision imposed by the government, and he forced the Bangladesh cricket team not to participate in the T20 World Cup. There was no involvement of the cricketers or coaches; instead, the cricketers were deeply distressed by not being able to play, and two of them even fell seriously ill. Now, Asif Nazrul is completely shifting the blame onto the cricketers and coaches, when in fact, he was the one who pushed the Bangladesh team to decide not to compete in the T20 World Cup', Mohammad Salahuddin, Senior Assistant Coach of the Bangladesh Cricket team, told the reporters on Friday.

In protest against the decision to exclude Mustafizur Rahman, a Bangladeshi cricketer, from the Indian Premier League (IPL), and citing the lack of safety for Bangladeshi players, Bangladesh refused to participate in the T20 World Cup in India. Bangladesh appealed to the ICC to allow them to play in Sri Lanka, but the ICC did not grant this request, and so Bangladesh was removed from the T20 World Cup and replaced by Scotland.

After the recent national election, the government changed, and after the BNP-led government came to power, a coach made these allegations against Asif Nazrul. (ANI)