Bangladesh knocked out of T20 World Cup, Scotland named replacement: Sources

Scotland have officially been named as Bangladesh’s replacement for the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026.

The International Cricket Council announced on Friday, January 23. Bangladesh pulled out of the tournament citing security concerns, claiming that the issues raised by them were not adequately addressed by the world body.

January 24, that the ICC informed the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) of its decision through a formal letter. The call was taken at a high-level ICC meeting held in Dubai on Friday, convened by chairman Jay Shah, to decide Bangladesh’s participation in the event.

In a last-ditch attempt, the BCB had requested that the matter be referred to the ICC’s dispute resolution committee. However, the committee clarified that it could not function as an appellate body and upheld the ICC’s final decision. With the BCB failing to meet the ICC’s ultimatum to confirm participation, the governing body moved ahead with replacing Bangladesh with Scotland. The BCB subsequently announced its decision to boycott the tournament following a meeting with players on Thursday.

Where will Scotland play?

The decision paved the way for Scotland, who have featured in five T20 World Cups so far, including the 2022 and 2024 editions. Although they failed to progress to the Super 8 stages in those tournaments, Scotland impressed with competitive performances, notably pushing Australia and England close in 2024.

Despite finishing behind Italy, the Netherlands and Jersey in the European qualifiers, Scotland were selected as Bangladesh’s replacement based on their ICC rankings.

Scotland will compete in Group C, alongside England, West Indies, Italy and Nepal. Their campaign begins on February 7 against the West Indies in Kolkata, followed by matches against Italy (February 9) and England (February 14) at Eden Gardens. Scotland will conclude their group stage against Nepal in Mumbai on February 17.

Why did Bangladesh pull out?

Bangladesh’s decision not to travel to India is believed to have been triggered by the BCCI’s request to Kolkata Knight Riders to drop Mustafizur Rahman from their IPL 2026 squad. While no official link was established, strained diplomatic relations between India and Bangladesh were widely viewed as a contributing factor.

This led to a prolonged standoff between the ICC and the BCB, with Bangladesh maintaining that security concerns made participation untenable. The ICC, however, assessed the concerns as minimal and chose to proceed with the tournament as scheduled.