ICC Excludes Bangladesh from T20 World Cup 2026, Scotland Named Replacement

The International Cricket Council has made a big decision by removing Bangladesh from the 2026 T20 World Cup tournament. The ICC made this announcement on Saturday, and Scotland is to replace Bangladesh in this tournament. The Bangladesh Cricket Board has made its first statement after this decision by the ICC and has accepted it, saying it is helpless about this decision.

The BCB has clearly stated that it had no other option under the current circumstances. In fact, after Bangladesh released fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman from the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026, citing security reasons, they demanded that their group-stage matches be played in Sri Lanka instead of India. Bangladesh also proposed switching groups with Ireland, but the ICC rejected both proposals.

Subsequently, after refusing to play in the tournament, the Bangladesh Cricket Board also declined to compete in their T20 World Cup fixtures in India and decided to pull out of the tournament. In response, the ICC then included Scotland in the tournament in Bangladesh's stead.

Reacting to the development, BCB Media Committee Chairman Amjad Hussain said that the board had anticipated that the ICC would not accept their demands. He said, "We tried our best, but we knew that the ICC would neither accept our demands nor would it want to. Despite this, we made every effort."

Hussain further said, "We respect the decision of the ICC Board. The Board unanimously decided not to relocate our matches. We still appealed, but when the ICC made it clear that the matches could not be moved to Sri Lanka, we were left with no other option. Therefore, we accepted the ICC's decision."

He also clarified that Bangladesh would not participate in any alternative arbitration or other process on this issue. According to Hussain, "We discussed this matter with our government. The government clearly stated that traveling to India for the World Cup would not be safe for our players, journalists, and other accompanying team members. That is why we requested that the matches be held in Sri Lanka."

Amjad Hussain explained that despite several rounds of meetings, the ICC did not agree to this demand. He said, "Since this is the government's decision and there was no positive response from the ICC, we could not do anything further in this situation."

With this decision of the ICC, Bangladesh's journey in the T20 World Cup 2026 has officially ended, while Scotland has got a chance to play in the tournament.