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Published : 24 Jan 2026, 08:58 PM
It is official. Bangladesh will not feature in next month’s T20 World Cup. Scotland will replace them.
What had long seemed inevitable was finally made official on Saturday.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed that the Tigers have been removed from the showcase event after refusing to play their scheduled matches in India over security concerns, with Scotland called up as their replacement.
In a formal statement, the ICC said that, based on all the information received and after carefully considering the wider context, it had decided that changing the published tournament schedule would not be appropriate.
Scotland will now take Bangladesh’s place in Group C, joining England, Italy, Nepal and the West Indies, in the tournament that begins on Feb 7 and is jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka.
The ICC said the Tigers were withdrawn after the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) declined to take part in the competition under the existing match schedule.
The BCB had sought to move their games from India to Sri Lanka, citing security concerns, but the ICC rejected that request after concluding that there was no “credible or verifiable” threat to the Bangladesh team, officials or supporters in India.
The governing body said it had carried out an extensive process lasting more than three weeks, holding multiple rounds of discussions with the BCB both online and in person.
During that period, the ICC said it reviewed the concerns raised, commissioned independent security assessments from internal and external experts, and shared detailed federal and state-level security and operational plans, including enhanced and escalating protection measures.
These assurances were reiterated at several stages, including meetings of the ICC Business Corporation Board, it said.
Those assessments, the ICC said, found no credible security risk that would justify altering the tournament schedule.
The dispute was triggered on Jan 3, when the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) instructed Kolkata Knight Riders to release Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman from their IPL 2026 squad.
Although no reason was publicly given, the move came amid deteriorating relations between India and Bangladesh.
A day later, after consulting the government, the BCB wrote to the ICC saying the national team would not travel to India for its World Cup matches on security grounds.
On Wednesday, the ICC gave the BCB 24 hours to confirm whether it would honour the existing schedule.
When no confirmation was received within the deadline, the ICC moved in line with its governance and qualification rules to find a replacement team.
Scotland, ranked 14th in T20 internationals and the highest-ranked side to miss out on initial qualification, were selected ahead of Namibia, the United Arab Emirates, Nepal, the United States, Canada, Oman and Italy.
