New Delhi : Scotland has officially been named as Bangladesh’s replacement for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2026, the ICC announced on Friday, January 23. According to sources ICC told Bangladesh Cricket Board via a letter that they had been replaced by Scotland. The ICC held a meeting in Dubai on Friday, which was convened by Chairman Jay Shah to decide on the fate of Bangladesh and its participation in the tournament.
In a last-ditch effort, Bangladesh had written to the ICC to refer the matter to the dispute resolution committee. However, the committee cannot act as an appeal forum and decided to go ahead with ICC’s final call. The decision was made to replace Bangladesh with Scotland had the BCB not acted upon their ultimatum to decide on their participation. The BCB decided to hold a press conference on Thursday after a meeting with the players to boycott the upcoming ICC event.
This opened the door for Scotland, who have taken part in five T20 World Cups so far. In the 2024 edition, they gave a scare to Australia and England before being eliminated from the tournament. Scotland were part of the European qualifiers, but they finished behind Italy, the Netherlands and Jersey. Scotland became the replacement choice for Bangladesh due to their ICC rankings. Scotland will now enter Group C alongside England, the West Indies, Italy and Nepal.
“An e-mail was sent last evening to Bangladesh Cricket Board chairman intimating him that his board didn’t get back to ICC officially after the 24 hour deadline that was given to them to decide if they wanted to come to India, so a decision has been taken,” ICC sources have been quoted as saying by PTI. “The BCB did a press conference in Dhaka before officially intimating the global body which is a violation of protocol. They have been categorically told that they are being replaced,” the source added.
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