It is now official: Scotland have replaced Bangladesh in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026, starting in India and Sri Lanka on February 7. It was inevitable after the International Cricket Council (ICC) gave the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) a 24-hour deadline a couple of days back, and on Saturday (January 24) finally cracked the whip.
It was only a matter of time before Bangladesh was replaced by Scotland, and the final call was taken on Saturday morning when it was learnt that ICC CEO Sanjog Gupta formally wrote to the ICC Board that Bangladesh's demands were not in order with ICC's policy, reports cricbuzz.
In the letter, marked to all members of the Board, Gupta is believed to have mentioned that the BCB was not complying with the ICC Board's decision and that there was no other option but to invite another country - Scotland in this case - in place of Bangladesh for the marquee event. The copy, naturally, was marked to Aminul Islam, the BCB president, who is a member of the ICC Board.
Simultaneously, Gupta is understood to have also written to Cricket Scotland, sending them the formal invite to take part in the championship to be played in India and Sri Lanka. Cricbuzz reached out to Cricket Scotland CEO Trudy Lindblade. There was no immediate response from her at the time of writing this report, but Cricbuzz understands that hotlines between Dubai and Edinburgh started opening on Saturday morning.
Why Scotland, and what it means?
Scotland have been handed a berth in the World Cup based on their performances in previous ICC events, apart from their current ranking of No. 14. In the previous edition of the World Cup in 2024, they finished third in Group B on the same points as England, but lost out on NRR. In 2022, they beat West Indies in the group stage but finished third and thus failed to qualify for the Super 12. In 2021, they beat - incidentally, the team they are now replacing - Bangladesh in the group stage and topped their group. However, they went winless in the Super 12 round.
The swap means Scotland will now be placed in Group C in the preliminary stage of the competition and will play West Indies (February 7), Italy (February 9) and England (February 14) in Kolkata, before travelling to Mumbai to take on Nepal on February 17.
Why the ICC stood firm
The world governing body of cricket had allowed Bangladesh time to review their stance on playing in India, with CEO Gupta constantly engaging with BCB members. In particular, the ICC did not want Bangladesh, as a cricketing nation, to feel left out of the ecosystem, and at the same time did not want a dangerous precedent set where a member demands relocation of matches. The ICC was clear that it wanted to protect the sanctity of the World Cup fixtures.
After the January 21 board meeting, where all but two members rejected Bangladesh's request to move their matches out of India and the ICC set a 24-hour deadline, the Bangladesh board did not comply. Instead, it raised fresh objections and questioned the ICC security assessment, which had concluded that the threat perception to the Bangladesh team in India was moderate to low.
The BCB is understood to have countered the ICC report and claimed that the threat was moderate to high. In fact, Cricbuzz understands that the BCB sent its team to Pakistan last year for the Champions Trophy, when the threat perception for the Bangladesh team in Pakistan was higher than that in India currently.
It was largely assumed that the BCB was having a rethink of its intransigent stand, and some indications to that effect came during the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) final on Friday (January 23), but it is understood that the BCB remained relentless in its demand and stuck to a few hypothetical scenarios.
The BCB did write to the ICC after the 24-hour deadline had elapsed, but by then the ICC had waited long enough. On Saturday, the ICC's chief executive informed board members that, based on the January 21 decision, the governing body was compelled to replace Bangladesh in the 2026 ICC Men's T20 World Cup.
