ICC replaces Bangladesh with Scotland at T20 World Cup after BCB’s refusal to play in India

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has officially informed the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) that it has been replaced by Scotland in the upcoming T20 World Cup after they refused to travel to India, citing security concerns following the ouster of Mustafizur Rahman from the IPL.

‘Since the ICC released its statement earlier this week and the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) appears adamant about not travelling to India, Scotland is set to replace Bangladesh in the T20 World Cup. An official confirmation is expected very soon,” ICC sources told the news agency on Saturday.

Bangladesh earlier informed the ICC that they would not travel to India due to security concerns amid deteriorating relations between the two nations and requested that their matches be relocated to Sri Lanka. However, the ICC reiterated that the T20 World Cup will proceed as per schedule, with Bangladesh’s matches to be played in India.

This follows the BCCI’s direction to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to release pacer Mustafizur Rahman for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 amid prevailing political tensions between the two countries.

ICC also gave a 24-hour deadline to BCB for conveying its final decision on playing the tournament as planned.

Scotland is the top-ranked team not to have qualified for the global event and is the first option to replace Bangladesh after the country decided to stick to its position of not travelling to India, even after a vote on this issue yielded a 14-2 verdict against them in the ICC.

Scotland will now be placed in Group C in the preliminary stage of the tournament. They will play against the West Indies on February 7, Italy on February 9, and England on February 14 in Kolkata. Scotland will play its final group stage game in Mumbai against Nepal on February 17.

(This story was taken from syndicated feed and was only edited for style by Gujarat Samachar Digital team)