Cricket Scotland CEO reacts to Bangladesh's dramatic exit from T20 World Cup: 'We absolutely have sympathy'

Cricket Scotland expressed sympathy towards Bangladesh after being granted a last-minute entry into the T20 World Cup at their expense. Scotland, after all, were included as Bangladesh's replacement in Group C after the Bangladesh Cricket Board refused to budge from their stance of not sending their team to India for the tournament despite the International Cricket Council outright rejecting their demand.

Though they had finished behind Netherlands, Italy and Jersey in the European qualifier, Scotland were picked as Bangladesh’s replacement by virtue of being the highest-ranked team (13th) to have not originally qualified for the ICC’s showpiece 20-over event.

They now play alongside two-time champions England and West Indies as well as Nepal and debutants Italy, with Kolkata’s Eden Gardens and Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium now hosting the Saltires instead of the Bangla Tigers, who had demanded their group-stage matches be moved to Sri Lanka entirely from India.

More from First Cricket

PCB chief Naqvi hints at dragging Pakistan's T20 World Cup drama even further: 'Final decision will be taken either...' BCCI provides big update on Tilak Varma’s return ahead of T20 World Cup, retains Shreyas Iyer for remaining T20Is vs NZ

‘This is not how we wanted to qualify’

Cricket Scotland CEO Trudy Lindblade revealed that while they were mentally prepared for the T20 World Cup well before the official confirmation came in from the ICC, she did sympathise with the Bangladeshis and would have much rather preferred Scotland qualify through the traditional route.

“It’s been an extremely busy few days, particularly since Saturday morning when I received a call from Sanjog (Gupta), which was the first official notification regarding our invitation to the World Cup,” Lindblade was quoted by CricketNext as saying.

“Even before that, after the board meeting on Wednesday, we knew there was a potential possibility. As any responsible organisation would do, we began planning hypothetical scenarios because of the short turnaround before the tournament begins in India.

“We absolutely have sympathy for Bangladesh. This is not how we wanted to qualify, and no team wants to enter a World Cup under these circumstances,” she added.

Quick Reads

View All

'Won't require surgery...': Real reason behind Jasprit Bumrah's absence from 5th Test revealed in new report

PCB bans players from WCL over India-Pakistan match controversy

Scotland not worried about preparation for T20 World Cup

The last-minute call-up meant Scotland had just two weeks to prepare for the high-profile event that will be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka from 7 February to 8 March. Lindblade, however, revealed that training isn’t exactly their concern right now, and that they are worried about getting the arrangements in place for Scotland to land in India at such a short notice.

Always ready 👊#FollowScotland pic.twitter.com/bsFDOSAGVb

— Cricket Scotland (@CricketScotland) January 24, 2026

“We’ve been in winter training for several weeks now. In Scotland, temperatures have dropped to minus two or three degrees, so most of our training has been indoors,” Lindblade continued.

“We have several announcements lined up over the next few days. Right now, our focus — along with Steve and our team manager in Nepal — has been on logistics: flights, visas, hotels and all the practical elements that need to be handled quickly.

“Alongside that, we are working on naming the squad, ensuring players have everything they need, getting them to India, and also securing sponsorship. It’s a busy but exciting time,” she added.