ICC replaces Bangladesh with Scotland for T20 World Cup 2026

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has officially replaced Bangladesh with Scotland for the 2026 T20 World Cup after the former’s refusal to travel to India due to “security concerns.” Scotland were chosen based on team rankings, being the next highest-ranked team that was originally not part of the tournament.

The ICC has announced that Scotland will replace Bangladesh at the #T20WorldCup.

Details 📲 https://t.co/M61nOzx2fF

— ICC (@ICC) January 24, 2026

The decision was taken at the January 21 meeting of the ICC board, where a majority of the 15 directors present voted in favour of replacing Bangladesh if they continued to refuse to play in India. Pakistan was the only member that backed the BCB decision, writing to the ICC for the same. As fate would have it, Bangladesh did not relent, forfeiting their participation in the tournament.

The ICC Board had stated that such a last-minute change was not feasible, especially in the absence of any “credible security threat”, as it would set a “precedent that would jeopardise the sanctity of future ICC events" and "undermine its neutrality as a global governing body.”

In the aftermath of the meeting, BCB president Aminul Islam accused the ICC of double standards, citing the arrangement the apex body made in the 2025 Champions Trophy that enabled India to play their matches in the UAE instead of Pakistan, while denying Bangladesh's request to move its fixtures from India to Sri Lanka only a year later. The BCB also requested the ICC to swap its group with Ireland, given that they are set to play all their games in Sri Lanka. The ICC did not agree with the demand.

The issue arose when BCCI, on January 3, directed Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to release Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman from their IPL 2026 squad. No official reason was cited behind the instruction; however, BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia mentioned “recent developments” when quizzed about the decision, potentially referring to the worsening India-Bangladesh diplomatic ties.

On January 4, the BCB, after consulting with the government, communicated to the ICC that the Bangladesh players would not travel to India due to security concerns. The ICC, however, rejected BCB’s demand to relocate the games after an internal security assessment found no evident threat to Bangladesh players' security. 

The ICC also suggested that the Mustafizur issue was not a valid concern and that the BCB was "repeatedly linking its participation in the tournament to a single, isolated and unrelated development concerning one of its players' involvement in a domestic league. This linkage has no bearing on the tournament's security framework or the conditions governing participation in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup."

Bangladesh were in Group C along with England, Italy, West Indies and Nepal, with their first three games scheduled in Kolkata and the last one in Mumbai. Scotland will replace them in the same group.