Bangladesh's new sports minister wants to mend India ties

Bangladesh's new State Minister for Youth and Sports, Aminul Haque aimed to resolve the 'diplomatic complications' with neighboring country India that arose during the 2026 T20 World Cup. Aminul took his oath on Tuesday and soon after, spoke about repairing the relationship with India.

A former captain and goalkeeper of the Bangladesh national football team, Aminul Haque has been given the reins after a landslide victory by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in the recent state elections. 

With India-Bangladesh relations deteriorating under the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government, the Bangladesh cricket team was forced to sit out the T20 World Cup 2026 after refusing to play its group matches in India, citing a security threat.

India also did not tour Bangladesh for a white-ball series in 2025, which has now been postponed to 2026, but there's a good chance it may not take place this year as well unless the situation improves drastically.

Aminul Haque added that he had a cordial meeting with the Deputy High Commissioner of India in Dhaka and wishes to have a peaceful relationship with the neighbouring nation.

"After attending the oath-taking ceremony, I met with the Deputy High Commissioner of India at the Parliament building. I discussed this matter (T20 World Cup issue) with him. He was very friendly, and I also spoke to him in a friendly manner," Aminul said after his swearing-in program.

"I told him that we want to resolve this issue quickly through discussions because we want to maintain friendly relations with all our neighboring countries. From sports to all other sectors, we want to build a sincere and cordial relationship."

The former national football team captain, Aminul, added that diplomacy and a better relationship at the time of crisis would have helped Bangladesh participate in the T20 World Cup.

Bangladesh's new sports minister also said that the government will fast track the procedures in the cases against Shakib Al Hasan and Mashrafe Mortaza so that the two former Awami League members of parliament can return to cricket swiftly.

"The government will deal with the matter concerning Shakib and Mashrafe. We will remain tolerant and flexible on them," Aminul  said. "The cases against them will be handled by the government. We want Shakib to return [to Bangladesh]. We hope those will be resolved swiftly so they can return. We also want Shakib and Mashrafe back in Bangladesh cricket."

Shakib hasn't been back in Bangladesh since May 2024 - he is based in the USA for the past few years. Though he hasn't played for Bangladesh since October 2024, he has been in action in franchise T20 leagues, including the PSL and the CPL. During a recent interview to the Beard Before Wicket podcast, Shakib announced that he had reversed his decision to retire from international cricket. He said that he wanted to retire after playing a full international series, though he didn't put a timeline to it.

"I am officially not retired from all formats. This is the first time I'll be revealing that. My plan is to go back to Bangladesh, play one full series of ODI, Test, and T20, and retire," he had said in December last year. "I mean, [I can] retire from all formats in a series. So it can start from T20I, ODI and Test, or Test, ODI, T20I. Either way, I'm fine, but I want to play a whole series and retire. That's what I want."