ICC's decision on the T20 World Cup issue: Bangladesh dropped - Scotland instead

Scotland has been officially included in the 2026 T20 World Cup Cricket tournament, co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka, replacing Bangladesh. The tournament is scheduled to begin on February 7th. This decisive step was taken on Saturday, January 24th, after the 24-hour deadline given by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to the Bangladesh Cricket Board was exceeded.

ICC Chief Executive Sanjog Gupta officially communicated the decision, pointing out that Bangladesh's requests were contrary to the council's policies.

Sanjog Gupta stated in a letter addressed to all board members that due to the Bangladesh Cricket Board's non-compliance with ICC board decisions, there was no alternative but to invite Scotland in their place. A copy of this announcement was also sent to Bangladesh Cricket President Aminul Islam, who is also an ICC board member, and simultaneously, an official invitation to participate in the tournament was sent to Cricket Scotland.

Scotland has been chosen for this opportunity considering their current 14th ranking and their performance in previous ICC tournaments. In the 2024 World Cup, they achieved the same points as England but fell behind on net run rate, and in 2021, they managed to top their group by defeating Bangladesh. With this new change, Scotland will be included in Group 'C' of the preliminary round and is scheduled to play their first match against the West Indies on February 7th.

This issue arose with Bangladesh's request to move their matches scheduled to be held in India to another country, which the ICC firmly rejected. Bangladesh questioned the ICC's report on the security situation in India, arguing that the moderate risk level mentioned in the report was, in their view, a high-risk level. However, it was also revealed that Bangladesh had participated in last year's Champions Trophy in Pakistan, where a higher risk level existed.

At the board meeting held on January 21st, all members except two opposed Bangladesh's request, and Bangladesh's failure to change its stance within the subsequent deadline was the main reason for this removal. The International Cricket Council has taken this firm decision to protect the integrity of the World Cup schedule and prevent such precedents from being set in the future.