Pakistan’s T20I captain, Salman Ali Agha, has shed light on the controversy of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and the International Cricket Council (ICC), where the latter finally decided to replace the Asian side with Scotland due to their refusal to travel to India for security reasons.

During the captain’s meet-up in the press conference, two days before the start of the T20 World Cup 2026, Pakistan had almost completed their final preparation for the curtain raiser against the Netherlands on February 07 at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo. Salman spoke on the incident with Bangladesh.

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“Bangladeshis are our brothers; we are grateful for their support for Pakistan. It's a pity that they are not playing in the tournament.” Agha expressed in the press conference that after their only warm-up contest was washed out on February 04 against Ireland due to rain, the same condition is expected to appear on the opening day.

Salman Ali Agha speaks on Bangladesh’s exit from T20 WC 2026

Nearly four days ago, the Pakistan government gave the green light to their national cricket team to feature in the T20 World Cup but didn’t allow them to take on India on February 15 at the R. Premadasa Cricket Stadium, which will be a massive setback for the ICC in the revenue stance, as the latter has asked the PCB to come to a mutually agreed stance in the interest of the stakeholders.

“You can't have double standards. You can't say for one country [India] they can do whatever they want and for the others to have to do the complete opposite. That's why we've taken this stand and made clear Bangladesh has had an injustice done to them. They should play in the World Cup; they are a major stakeholder in cricket.” The PCB chairman, Mohsin Naqvi, addressed the issue.

The semifinals of the T20 World Cup 2026 will take place on March 04 and 05, with the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai hosting the latter’s game. The final will take place in March in either the R. Premadasa Cricket Stadium in Colombo or the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, depending on Pakistan’s participation.