The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) said on Saturday that it has accepted the International Cricket Council's (ICC) decision to replace Bangladesh with Scotland in next month's T20 World Cup 2026. The BCB has plainly stated that it can no longer take any further action.

The ICC stated on Saturday that Scotland will replace Bangladesh in the T20 World Cup, which will be hosted in India and Sri Lanka. The late move came after Bangladesh argued that it was dangerous for their players to go to India and insisted on transferring their games to Sri Lanka.

ICC denied BCB’s request and, after much to and fro, gave them an ultimatum to accept the original schedule or risk being expelled from the tournament. Scotland, which had not qualified this year, was chosen by the ICC to replace Bangladesh after the BCB failed to reply within the allotted time.

Amjad Hossain, head of the BCB media committee, stated that although the Board made every effort to persuade the ICC, they were aware that the ruling would not be reversed.

“We have tried our best. We fully respect the ICC Board, and the Board’s majority decision was that the match cannot be relocated. Even after that, we tried in our own way and made requests. Since they will not do it or do not want to, there is nothing more we can do. We have accepted the ICC Board’s decision, as the ICC has said that we will not be able to go and play, nor can our match be shifted to Sri Lanka,” Hossain said in a press conference, as quoted by PTI.  

He also indicated that the BCB might not pursue “any separate arbitration or any other process” on the matter.

“In this case, we cannot go to India to play, and our stance remains the same. We are not going into any separate arbitration or any other process here,” Hossain said.

Hossain further added that the interim Bangladesh government advised the BCB against traveling to India, as they felt the security of the players and the journalists might not be of the highest level.

“In that case, we requested that our match be shifted to Sri Lanka. However, the ICC did not agree to that, even after several rounds of meetings. Since the ICC did not respond, there is not much we can do because this is the government’s decision. Due to security concerns, playing in India is not safe for us, and that is why this decision has been taken,” Hossain added.

(PTI inputs)