ICC to Replace Bangladesh at T20 World Cup Over India Travel Uncertainty

Bangladesh has been warned by the ICC that they could be replaced at the T20 World Cup 2026 if their position of not traveling to India does not change in time. The decision was taken at the ICC board meeting on Wednesday, where the majority of members voted against Bangladesh’s request. It was therefore conveyed to the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) that their team could be replaced by Scotland in the upcoming event should they not budge from their stance.

"The decision was taken after considering all security assessments conducted, including independent reviews, all of which indicated there was no threat to Bangladesh players, media persons, officials, and fans at any of the tournament venues in India," the ICC released a statement following the board meeting.

"The ICC Board noted that it was not feasible to make changes so close to the tournament and that altering the schedule under the circumstances, in the absence of any credible security threat, could set a precedent that would jeopardise the sanctity of future ICC events and undermine its neutrality as a global governing body,” added the ICC statement.

The statement further said that the ICC engaged with BCB in a series of conversations; however, it failed to break the impasse despite presenting a detailed layered security plan for the Bangladesh team.

"The ICC management also engaged in a series of correspondences and meetings with the BCB in a bid to resolve the impasse, sharing detailed information on the event security plan, including layered federal and state law-enforcement support," the ICC said in a statement.

The global cricket body then outlined objective reasons why moving Bangladesh’s matches out of India is impossible at this stage. As a result, the ICC conveyed its final decision to the BCB and gave them one more day to change their stance.

"The ICC's venue and scheduling decisions are guided by objective threat assessments, host guarantees, and the tournament's agreed terms of participation, which apply uniformly to all 20 competing nations. In the absence of any independent security findings that materially compromise the safety of the Bangladesh team, the ICC is unable to relocate fixtures,” said ICC in a statement.

“Doing so would carry significant logistical and scheduling consequences for other teams and fans worldwide, and would also create far-reaching precedent-related challenges that risk undermining the neutrality, fairness, and integrity of ICC governance," added the ICC statement.