Scotland have replaced Bangladesh at the T20 World Cup after the latter withdrew from the competition. Here's why.
Scotland replace Bangladesh at men's T20 World Cup
On Saturday (January 24), the ICC confirmed that Bangladesh would not adhere to the tournament schedule, having refused to travel to India citing security concerns.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board had requested the tournament organisers to move their matches to Sri Lanka. However, the ICC rejected the proposal "in the absence of any credible or verifiable security threat to the Bangladesh national team in India", following an "extensive process undertaken by the ICC to address concerns raised by the BCB regarding the hosting of its scheduled matches in India," according to an ICC statement.
The ICC further outlined that Scotland had been selected to take Bangladesh's place at the tournament.
Read more: Bangladesh replaced by Scotland at 2026 men's T20 World Cup after refusing to travel to India
Why were Scotland picked to replace Bangladesh?
Scotland participated in the men's T20 World Cup Europe Regional Final last year. The rules of that tournament stated that the top two teams out of the five participating would make it to the tournament proper. These were the Netherlands and Italy.
The third-placed team were Jersey, and Scotland were fourth. However, the decision to include Scotland in Bangladesh's place was on the basis of the current ICC rankings.
Also read: Mohsin Naqvi: Pakistan's participation in T20 World Cup is up to the government
"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," read the final line of the ICC's statement.
Bangladesh qualified for this World Cup by making it to the Super Eight stage of the previous tournament. Had the ICC decided to call up the next-best ranked team that did not make the Super Eights in 2024, it would still have been Scotland.
How have replacements been decided before?
In July 2008, Zimbabwe withdrew from the following year's T20 World Cup in England. On that occasion, a qualifying tournament had already been scheduled for August 2008, from which the top two teams would qualify for the World Cup. The decision was made to let the third-placed team also qualify, as Zimbabwe's replacement. Interestingly enough, that was also Scotland.
In 2016, Australia pulled out of the men's U19 World Cup in Bangladesh citing security concerns. On that occasion, Ireland, who had finished runners-up at the previous year's qualifying tournament (where only the winner made it through), were invited to take their place. The same happened at the 2022 men's U19 World Cup, for Scotland to replace New Zealand.
Follow Wisden for all cricket updates, including live scores, match stats, quizzes and more. Stay up to date with the latest cricket news, player updates, team standings, match highlights, video analysis and live match odds.
