Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: After weeks of communication, suspense, and drama, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced that Scotland will replace Bangladesh for the 2026 edition of the T20 World Cup. The writing was on the wall the moment Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) “refused to participate in the tournament per the published match schedule”.It is learnt that the global cricket body has already communicated the decision to both Bangladesh and Scotland. The Group C of the multi-nation tournament will now feature England, Italy, Nepal, West Indies, and Scotland.
The ICC Board, chaired by Jay Shah, who reached Dubai on Friday, took the decision as it wasn’t feasible to make any changes to the schedule so close to the tournament. “The decision follows an extensive process undertaken by the ICC to address concerns raised by the BCB regarding the hosting of its scheduled matches in India,” ICC’s statement reads.“Over a period of more than three weeks, the ICC engaged with the BCB through multiple rounds of dialogue conducted in a transparent and constructive manner, including meetings held both via video conference and in-person.“As part of this process, the ICC 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 a meeting on Wednesday, the Bangladesh Cricket Board had been given a 24-hour timeframe to confirm whether its team would participate in India as scheduled. As no confirmation was received within the deadline, the ICC “proceeded in line with its established governance and qualification processes to identify a replacement team.”Scotland were picked as the replacement team because they are the next-highest-ranked T20I team that had missed the qualification for the tournament. They are currently ranked 14th. All eyes on PakistanThe World Cup drama, however, is not expected to die down any time soon, as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has termed the decision and handling of the Bangladesh matter as “unfair”.“We have taken the position that Bangladesh is being treated unfairly. They should be made to play the World Cup from the very beginning; they are a major stakeholder and this unfairness should not happen to them,” PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi said.He remains non-committal on Pakistan’s participation in the tournament and said the decision will be taken by the government.“Whether we play in the T20 World Cup or not, the decision will be taken by the government,” said Naqvi.“Our PM (Shahbaz Sharif) is out of the country. When he comes back, we will take advice from him. The decision by the government will be final and binding, and if they say no, then they (ICC) may invite any other team,” he added.
