ICC announces replacement of Bangladesh in T20 World Cup 2026

The Bangladesh cricket team will not participate in the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2026. So, with immediate effect, the International Cricket Council has announced the replacement of the Bangladesh cricket team for the tournament. Scotland will replace Bangladesh in the tournament. The ICC has released an official statement to inform about their decision.

“The ICC has announced that Scotland will replace Bangladesh at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026. It was formally announced on Saturday that Bangladesh will no longer compete in the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, after the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) refused to participate in the tournament per the published match schedule”, ICC informed in their official statement.

Bangladesh was about to take part in the tournament, but their cricket board refused to travel to India because of ‘security and safety’ concerns of their players. They requested the ICC to shift their matches from India to Sri Lanka, but the ICC did not approve their plea.

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ICC issues official statement about the inclusion of Scotland

On the other side, Bangladesh cricket team officials remained firm on their decision about not travelling to India to play in the 2026 World Cup. ICC gave the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) an ultimatum to review their stance. But the situation did not improve, for which the council had to keep Scotland on standby.

“The announcement comes after the ICC, in the absence of any credible or verifiable security threat to the Bangladesh national team in India, rejected BCB’s request to move their matches from India to Sri Lanka, who are co-hosts of the tournament which commences on February 7.Independent security assessments were conducted from internal and external experts", the statement reads.