Scotland has replaced Bangladesh in the 2026 T20 World Cup, the ICC said on Saturday. The “difficult decision” was made because it was not possible to accommodate BCB’s request to move their matches to Sri Lanka so soon to the competition.
Following Mustafizur Rahman’s removal from the IPL, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) declined to allow its team to visit India due to security concerns.
ICC insisted that it was inappropriate to change the stated event schedule because there was no demonstrable security risk to the Bangladeshi national team, officials, or supporters in India.
After BCB persisted in its demands and even proposed that its group be switched with Ireland’s, the tension about Bangladesh’s fate in the event was ended by Scotland’s entry into the tournament, which will begin on February 7.
Bangladesh’s petition to move matches was defeated 14-2 at the ICC Board meeting on Wednesday, with only Pakistan endorsing it.
“Bangladesh will no longer compete in the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, after the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) refused to participate in the tournament per the published match schedule. The decision follows an extensive process undertaken by the ICC to address concerns raised by the BCB regarding the hosting of its scheduled matches in India,” PTI quoted ICC saying in a statement.
Top ICC officials, including chairman Jay Shah, were reportedly in Dubai on Friday. Late in the evening, BCB chairman Aminul Islam Bulbul received an email telling him of the world body’s decision.
“The ICC’s assessments concluded that there was no credible or verifiable security threat to the Bangladesh national team, officials or supporters in India. In light of these findings, and after careful consideration of the broader implications, the ICC determined that it was not appropriate to amend the published event schedule,” the statement added.
According to the ICC, BCB was given a 24-hour timeframe to confirm whether or not its team will travel to India as planned.
“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.”
“Scotland are the next-highest ranked T20I team that had originally missed T20 World Cup qualification. They are currently ranked 14th, which in fact is ahead of competing teams Namibia, the United Arab Emirates, Nepal, USA, Canada, Oman and Italy.”
“Scotland has been called up to take Bangladesh’s place in Group C, joining England, Italy, Nepal and the West Indies.”
In Kolkata, Scotland will play their group matches against the West Indies on February 7, Italy on February 9, and England on February 14. On February 17, they will play Nepal in Mumbai.
Despite the ICC’s repeated assurances, Bangladesh Sports Ministry advisor Asif Nazrul had cautioned against the national team visiting India due to security concerns.
In a desperate attempt, the BCB also contacted the ICC’s Dispute Resolution Committee (DRC), not realizing that the subcommittee was not authorized to consider appeals against decisions taken by its own Board of Directors.
As a representative of the interim government, anti-Indian hardliner Nazrul issued a directive stating that the team could not be permitted to visit India under these conditions, even though the mandatory independent security assessment threat for Bangladesh was “low to moderate” for all teams.
In actuality, the meeting between Nazrul and members of the national squad was a one-way conversation in which Nazrul spoke exclusively and informed the elite cricket players that they would not be permitted to compete in the tournament.
The financial consequences of this abrupt removal will likewise be severe for BCB. Each country’s USD 500,000 participation fee will be lost by the board. However, the annual revenue of ICC will be the largest possible loss.
Approximately 60% of the BCB’s yearly budget is made up of the nearly USD 27 million (330 crore BDT) in revenue it receives from the ICC each year.
In addition, if one doesn’t participate in the competition, one will lose sponsorship money. Finally, BCB will lose money that would have been equivalent to playing ten bilateral series against other countries because India will no longer travel to that region of the world for a bilateral series.
The competition will continue even if BCB’s only legal option is to appeal in the Court of Arbitration of Sports (CAS) in Lausanne.
