The International Cricket Council (ICC) has given the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) one additional day to reconsider its position after a board meeting on Wednesday failed to break the impasse over Bangladesh’s refusal to play its matches of the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in India. Should Bangladesh continue to cite security concerns and decline to travel, the ICC Board has decided that they will be replaced by Scotland, based on rankings, at the tournament.
The decision was taken during an ICC Board meeting on Wednesday, where a majority of members voted in favour of having a replacement team if Bangladesh maintained its stance. According to ESPNCricinfo, among the 15 directors present, only the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) supported the BCB. The meeting was convened, a day after the PCB wrote to the ICC and other member boards, backing Bangladesh’s request to play their matches in Sri Lanka, a co-host of the event.
The board meeting was attended by the directors of all the Full Member countries. Apart from the ICC chair Jay Shah, the participants included BCB president Aminul Islam, BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia, SLC president Shammi Silva, PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi, CA chairman Mike Baird, Zimbabwe Cricket president Tavenga Mukuhlani, CWI president Kishore Shallow, Cricket Ireland chair Brian MacNeice, Cricket New Zealand representative Roger Twose, ECB chair Richard Thompson, CSA representative Mohammed Moosajee and Cricket Afghanistan chairman Mirwais Ashraf.
Senior ICC officials, including CEO Sanjog Gupta, deputy chairman Imran Khawaja and general manager (events) Gaurav Saxena, also participated in the deliberations, along with Associate Member directors Mubashshir Usmani and Mahinda Vallipuram. ICC ACU head Andrew Ephgrave, who was in Dhaka last week to have in-person meetings with BCB to assuage the security concerns, was part of the meeting too.
During the meeting, the BCB continued its demand to relocate its matches to Sri Lanka citing security concerns despite the risk assessment report compiled by an independent security agency for the ICC, negating any specific or heightened threat to the Bangladesh cricket team in India.
With the standoff continuing, the ICC has now asked the BCB to formally inform the Bangladesh government that continued refusal to travel to India would result in Bangladesh being booted out of the 2026 T20 World Cup. The matter was subsequently put to a vote, with a clear majority of ICC Board members backing the option of a replacement team. The BCB has been given one final day to convey its decision to the ICC.
As per the original schedule, Bangladesh are placed in Group C and are set to play their first three matches in Kolkata on February 7, 9 and 14, followed by a final group game in Mumbai on February 17. Bangladesh’s ouster could see Scotland take their place in Group C. Scotland narrowly missed qualification for the 2026 T20 World Cup, finishing behind the Netherlands, Italy and Jersey at the European Qualifier.