Bangladesh confirm Ireland tour deferral, India series prompts move

Bangladesh's upcoming tour of Ireland, scheduled for September 2026, has been postponed as they are eyeing to host India in that window, a Bangladesh Cricket Board official confirmed to Cricbuzz.

Cricbuzz understands that Cricket Ireland, who recently published their year-long schedule, informed the Bangladesh Cricket Board that they would be unable to accommodate a rescheduling within 2026. This came after the BCB conveyed that they would not be able to travel in September, as they are planning to host India during that period.

The two boards agreed to defer the series as both parties were unable to make it work in that September window.

India, who were originally scheduled to tour Bangladesh in 2025 before the series was postponed, are currently set to arrive on August 28 for three ODIs and three T20Is.

As per a BCB press release, the ODIs are scheduled for September 1, 3 and 6, while the T20Is will be played on September 9, 12 and 13.

"When the India series was moved from last year to this September, we asked them (Cricket Ireland) if they could accommodate us at another time in 2026, but they said they were unable to do so. So the tour has been postponed," a BCB official told Cricbuzz on Saturday.

"They also had some other issues, so we decided to work together to find a new window for the Ireland tour, hopefully sometime next year (2027)," he added.

Bangladesh have moved up to ninth in the International Cricket Council ODI team rankings following their recent 2-1 series win at home against Pakistan, and now have 79 rating points, two more than the West Indies in tenth.

To secure direct qualification for the 2027 World Cup, to be held in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia, Bangladesh need to finish among the top eight teams in the rankings by March 31, 2027. Teams outside that bracket will have to go through a qualifying tournament.

With the Ireland tour postponed, Bangladesh are expected to host New Zealand, Australia and India, and travel to South Africa and Zimbabwe before the qualification deadline.

However, if the India tour in September is also postponed (it's subject to clearance from the Government of India amid recent diplomatic tensions), Bangladesh could end up with very few ODIs to work with before the direct qualification cut-off.