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Bangladesh were officially replaced by Scotland after their constant refusal to travel to India for the ICC T20 World Cup 2026. They had requested ICC to shift their matches to Sri Lanka, citing security concerns for their players and fans during the tournament. The situation arose after BCCI directed KKR to release Mustafizur Rahman from their IPL squad.

BCB Director Blames Bangladesh Government After T20 World Cup Exit

But the ICC had already snubbed their plea, insisting they won't change the T20 World Cup schedule. At a board meeting, ICC decided that if they remained adamant in their stance, they would be replaced, and subsequently announced that Scotland would replace Bangladesh.

ICC also had confirmed that they reviewed Bangladesh's request and didn't find any credible security threats for their players, staff and supporters. Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) director Abdur Razzak now opened up on their T20 World Cup omission and insisted they wanted to play, but they had to abide by the government's decision.

In an interaction with RTV, the former Bangladesh cricketer said, “We have always said that we want to play, but this is the government's decision. So we have to follow whatever the government tells us. And the decision that has been given by the government is not just for this time; whenever we have any tour, we have to get clearance from the government beforehand.”

Bangladesh Won't Pursue Further Action After T20 World Cup Exit

There were a lot of chatters that Bangladesh might pursue further action after the ICC decided to replace Bangladesh with Scotland. The decision came after a prolonged conversation between ICC and Bangladesh. Scotland were the next highest-ranked team to miss out on the T20 World Cup qualification and have now been pitted in Group C.

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) Media Committee Chairman, Amzad Hussain, confirmed they accepted ICC's verdict and won't pursue further action.

Since the ICC has stated that we cannot play or that they cannot relocate our matches to Sri Lanka, we are not playing in India. Our stance remains the same. We are not pursuing any further arbitration or other avenues in this matter."

Scotland are scheduled to play their first three matches at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, followed by the last group stage match in Mumbai.