ICC replaces Bangladesh with Scotland at T20 World Cup due to BCB refusal to play in India

The ICC has replaced Bangladesh with Scotland at the 2026 T20 World Cup, the decision coming after nearly three weeks of negotiations with the BCB over its refusal to send a team to India due to security concerns.

The ICC informed its board members via email of the decision: "The BCB is not agreeable to playing the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 per the match schedule with their matches in India. We are, therefore, going ahead with the Board decision to replace Bangladesh in the tournament."

In a statement released on Saturday, the ICC said they "reviewed the concerns cited by the BCB, commissioned and considered independent security assessments from internal and external experts, and shared detailed security and operational plans covering federal and state arrangements, as well as enhanced and escalating security protocols for the event. These assurances were reiterated at several stages, including during discussions involving the ICC Business Corporation (IBC) Board.

"The ICC's assessments concluded that there was no credible or verifiable security threat to the Bangladesh national team, officials or supporters in India. In light of these findings, and after careful consideration of the broader implications, the ICC determined that it was not appropriate to amend the published event schedule."

Following its meeting on Wednesday, the IBC board gave the BCB a 24-hour deadline on whether they would participate in the tournament in India as scheduled. The ICC said "no confirmation was received within the stipulated deadline," so the body went ahead "in line with its established governance and qualification processes to identify a replacement team." The ICC is understood to have sent the BCB an email on Friday evening informing them of the decision.

ESPNcricinfo understands that the BCB did send a communication to the ICC on Thursday in which it said it wanted to take the matter to the ICC's Dispute Resolution Committee (DRC). It is not known on what grounds the BCB is taking this to the DRC, or what the ICC's response was. The DRC is an independent panel, which is assembled by ICC, to help resolve disputes of various kinds including that between a member board and the governing body.

It remains to be seen if the BCB can even take the DRC route, given the ICC Board voted by a clear majority for a replacement team in case Bangladesh did not travel to India. Clause 1.3 of DRC states: "The Committee shall not operate as an appeal body against decisions of the ICC or any decision-making body established under the ICC's Memorandum and Articles of Association or under any rules and regulations of the ICC, but shall operate as the sole forum and procedure for challenges to the lawfulness of such decisions, with the Committee exercising a supervisory jurisdiction."

The decision came finally after the ICC Board had an emergency meeting on Wednesday via video conference during which the majority of the directors voted to replace Bangladesh if they did not agree to play in India and continued to insist on moving their matches to Sri Lanka.

In a statement following the meeting, the ICC said its board had agreed it would not be "feasible" to change the tournament schedule "so close" to the start date. The ICC Board also believed that altering the schedule in the "absence of any credible security threat" for teams in India could "set a precedent that would jeopardise the sanctity of future ICC events and undermine its neutrality as a global governing body."

The board gave the BCB until Thursday to confer with the Bangladesh government and decide on whether they would travel to India as per the existing T20 World Cup schedule. Bangladesh were in Group C and were scheduled to play their first three matches in Kolkata and the fourth one in Mumbai - games that will now be played by Scotland instead. On Thursday, however, the Bangladesh government and BCB reiterated that they will not be traveling to India. The BCB president Aminul Islam accused the ICC of double standards, in how it was dealing with this situation compared to how they had dealt with the BCCI's refusal to travel to Pakistan for the 2025 Champions Trophy.

The issue of security arose after the BCCI, on January 3, instructed Kolkata Knight Riders to release Mustafizur from their IPL 2026 squad. Although no reason was stated for that directive, it came amid deteriorating relations between India and Bangladesh. On January 4, the BCB wrote to the ICC after consultation with the government that the Bangladesh team would not travel to India for its T20 World Cup matches due to security concerns, a stance it stuck to through several subsequent discussions with the ICC.

The ICC, however, rejected the Mustafizur issue as a valid concern, saying the BCB was "repeatedly linking its participation in the tournament to a single, isolated and unrelated development concerning one of its player's involvement in a domestic league. This linkage has no bearing on the tournament's security framework or the conditions governing participation in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup."