 "Scotland, ranked 14th in the ICC T20 rankings, are back for the T20 World Cup. AFP")
Bangladesh will not be playing the upcoming T20 World Cup and Scotland will replace the Asian side in the tournament, the International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed on Saturday, January 24.
Bangladeshi government and the cricket board in the country had maintained its demand of not going to India for the T20 World Cup and that has led to ICC ousting the team from the tournament that begins February 7.
Scotland, the highest-ranked team that could not qualify for the World Cup, have been awarded Bangladesh’s place in the 20-team tournament.
Scotland to join Group C in place of Bangladesh
“It was formally announced on Saturday that Bangladesh will no longer compete in the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, after the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) refused to participate in the tournament per the published match schedule,” ICC said in its statement.
“Scotland has been called up to take Bangladesh’s place in Group C, joining England, Italy, Nepal and the West Indies,” the statement added.
Bangladesh had consistently maintained that their team had security threats in India even as ICC could not find any credible evidence of this claim.
On Wednesday, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) had been given a 24-hour timeframe to confirm whether its team would participate in India as scheduled. This was after the the board members in the global body had voted to replace Bangladesh with another team due to their demands.
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.”
Meanwhile the 14th-ranked Scotland are ahead of some teams that will be competing at the World Cup like Namibia, the United Arab Emirates, Nepal, USA, Canada, Oman and Italy.
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View AllScotland will take Bangladesh’s place in Group C and will open their campaign on the opening day of the tournament, February 7, in Kolkata against West Indies.