It is now official: Scotland have replaced Bangladesh in the T20 World Cup 2026 starting in India and Sri Lanka on February 7.
It was always inevitable, after the International Cricket Council (ICC) gave the Bangladesh Cricket Board a 24-hour deadline a couple of days back and on Saturday (January 24) it finally cracked the whip.
It was only a matter of time before Bangladesh was replaced by the Associate country from the northwestern European country in the British isles and the final call was taken on Saturday morning when it is learnt that the ICC CEO Sanjog Gupta formally wrote to the ICC Board that the demands of Bangladesh were not in order with the ICC policy.
In the letter, marked to all the members of the Board, Gupta is believed to have mentioned that the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) was not complying with the ICC Board’s decision and that there was no other way than to invite another country, Scotland in this case, in place of Bangladesh for the marquee event. The copy, naturally, has been marked to Aminul Islam, the BCB president, who is a member of the ICC Board.
Simultaneously, Gupta is understood to have also written to Cricket Scotland sending them the formal invite to take part in the championship to be played in India and Sri Lanka.
Scotland have been handed a berth in the World Cup based on their performances in the previous ICC events apart from their current ranking, which is No 14. In the previous edition of the World Cup in 2024, they had finished third in Group B, same points as England, but lost out on NRR. In 2022, they had beaten West Indies in the group stage, but finished third and thus failed to qualify for Super 12. In 2021, they had beaten, incidentally the team they are now replacing – Bangladesh – in the group stage and topped their group. However, they went winless in the Super 12 round.
The swap means Scotland will now be placed in Group C in the preliminary stage of the competition and will play against West Indies (February 7), Italy (February 9) and England (February 14) in Kolkata, before travelling west to take on Nepal in Mumbai on February 17.
The world governing body of cricket had allowed Bangladesh time to review their stance on playing in India with CEO Gupta constantly engaging with the BCB members. In particular, the ICC did not want Bangladesh, as a cricketing nation, to feel left out of the ecosystem, and at the same time, the ICC did not want a dangerous precedent set where a member demands relocation of the matches. The ICC was clear that it wanted to protect the sanctity of the World Cup fixtures.
