Bangladesh has been officially replaced by Scotland in the 2026 T20I World Cup
This is the first time a full-playing member has been replaced from an ICC tournament
Bangladesh was placed in Group C along with Nepal, England, Italy and West Indies
The International Cricket Council has officially removed Bangladesh from the upcoming T20 World Cup after their board refused to travel to India, citing security reasons.
Despite a positive safety assessment report from an independent security agency and several reassurances in multiple meetings, Bangladesh Cricket remained adamant on their stance of not traveling to India, which eventually forced ICC to replace them with Scotland - the next best-ranked team in T20Is.
Updated 2026 T20 World Cup Groups
Bangladesh was placed in Group C along with England, Nepal, West Indies, Italy, However, now Scotland will replace them in this group and will play their matches in Kolkata and Mumbai.
Group A - India, Pakistan, USA, Netherlands, Namibia
Group B- Australia, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Zimbabwe, Oman
Group C - England, West Indies, Scotland, Nepal, Italy
Group D - New Zealand, South Africa, Afghanistan, Canada, UAE
Bangladesh Face ICC's Wrath For Rigid Stance
Bangladesh raised their security concerns to the ICC on January 4, after which the ICC held multiple discussions with BCB to resolve them.
ICC reviewed BCB's concerns and commissioned and conducted independent security assessments via both internal and external experts. There was no concrete threat discovered by ICC upon the assessments, which the ICC conveyed to BCB and requested them to follow the decided schedule.
However, BCB still stuck to their stance and demanded their matches be shifted to Sri Lanka, which prompted ICC to give them a 24-hour deadline on January 21 to agree to the schedule, or their position will be awarded to Scotland.
When ICC didn't hear anything from BCB within the stipulated deadline, they decided to award Bangladesh's position in the World Cup to Scotland.
There are going to massive financial ramifications of this decision for the BCB. Click here to understand in detail about the revenue loss that BCB could incur from this World Cup snub.
However, it is the first time in the history of cricket that a full-member nation has been replaced by another in a major ICC tournament.
