ICC T20 World Cup 2026: The International Cricket Council (ICC) clarified on Saturday, January 24, why it had replaced Bangladesh with Scotland in the 2026 T20 World Cup. The ICC stated that the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) had requested that the tournament venue be moved from India to Sri Lanka, citing security concerns, and had said that it would not send its team to India.
The ICC and the BCB engaged in lengthy discussions on this issue. The situation escalated when the ICC made it clear that it would not make any changes to the pre-determined schedule. Bangladesh then remained firm in its stance and officially announced its boycott of the tournament. An appeal to the dispute resolution committee was also unsuccessful, and ultimately, the ICC decided to replace Bangladesh with Scotland.
The ICC has issued a detailed statement explaining the reasons behind its decision. ICC said that the security concerns raised by the Bangladesh Cricket Board regarding playing matches in India have been thoroughly reviewed. Several rounds of discussions took place between the ICC and the BCB over the past three weeks.
The ICC also stated that it had conducted an independent security assessment with the help of internal and external experts. Following these assessments, the ICC concluded that there was no credible or substantiated security threat to the Bangladesh team, its officials, or its supporters in India. This is why the BCB's demands were not accepted.
ICC stated that ICC Business Corporation (IBC) had given the Bangladesh Cricket Board a deadline of January 21 to confirm their participation in the tournament. However, no response was received from the BCB by the stipulated time, following which the ICC decided to include Scotland as the replacement team.
"Following a meeting on Wednesday, the Bangladesh Cricket Board had been given a 24-hour timeframe to confirm whether its team would participate in India as scheduled. As no confirmation was received within the deadline, the ICC "proceeded in line with its established governance and qualification processes to identify a replacement team."- Said by ICC.
Scotland Joins Group C
Scotland has been included in Group C, replacing Bangladesh. Scotland will now play its group stage matches in Kolkata against West Indies on February 7th, Italy on February 9th, and England on February 14th. Following this, Scotland will play its final group stage match against Nepal in Mumbai on February 17th.
“Earlier today I received correspondence from the ICC asking if our men’s team would play at the Men’s T20 World Cup, and we have accepted,” Cricket Scotland chief executive Trudy Lindblade said in a statement published on the board’s official website.
“Our squad have been training for some weeks in preparation for upcoming tours and are now preparing to arrive in India imminently to acclimatise to local conditions, ready to play and contribute to what should be a fantastic ICC Men’s T20 World Cup,” Lindblade added.
It's worth noting that the Scotland team had failed to qualify for the T20 World Cup 2026, but their fortunes have now changed. The Scotland team is set to participate in the T20 World Cup for the seventh time. Previously, they participated in the 2007, 2009, 2016, 2021, 2022, and 2024 editions of the tournament. In 2021, Scotland reached the Super 12 stage. On the other five occasions, they did not progress beyond the group stage. Scotland did not participate in the T20 World Cup in 2010, 2012, and 2014.
