Inside The ICC's Decision Which Elevated Scotland Into T20 World Cup 2026 Replacing Bangladesh

T20 World Cup 2026: The International Cricket Council (ICC), on Saturday, January 24, officially announced that Scotland will be replacing Bangladesh in the upcoming T20 World Cup 2026.

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ICC Confirms Scotland To Replace Bangladesh In T20 WC 2026

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) refused to send their squad to India for the group-stage fixtures, citing security reasons. The BCB requested the ICC to shift their matches from India to Sri Lanka. However, ICC rejected Bangladesh's plea.

On January 21, ICC chaired a high-level Board meeting where they discussed the impasse. Soon after the meeting ended, the governing confirmed that the schedule of the T20 World Cup 2026 will not be changed.

ICC's decision came after a vote among the Board members where the majority decided to replace Bangladesh if they chose not take part in the extravagant tournament. The BCB was given a 24-hour deadline to rethink its stance on boycotting the T20 World Cup 2026. Earlier, on January 22, the BCB did not change its stance and confirmed that they will not be taking part in the T20 World Cup 2026, since the ICC decided not to shift its matches out of India.

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ICC Reveals Reason For How Scotland Replaced Bangladesh In T20 WC 2026

In the official statement from the ICC, the international cricket governing body revealed that Scotland are next-highest ranked T20I team that had missed T20 World Cup qualification, on which they had the opportunity to replace Bangladesh in the ICC event.

The statement revealed that Scotland are ranked 14th on the table.

"Scotland are the next-highest ranked T20I team that had originally missed T20 World Cup qualification. They are currently ranked 14th, which in fact is ahead of competing teams Namibia, the United Arab Emirates, Nepal, USA, Canada, Oman and Italy," ICC stated.

Scotland will be replacing Bangladesh in Group C of the upcoming T20 World Cup 2026, joining England, Italy, Nepal, and the West Indies. The Scottish will play their matches in Kolkata and Mumbai.