After a three-week period in which Bangladesh’s participation in the T20 World Cup 2026 was under a huge question mark, the ICC showed them the door after the Bangladesh Cricket Board decided against travelling to India, citing security concerns. After a long back-and-forth tussle with the ICC regarding options and alternatives for the tournament, the Bangladesh Cricket Board had to take a step back and withdraw from the tournament. The ICC released a statement confirming that there was no security risk for Bangladesh for their matches in India, and that changing the schedule less than 3 weeks before the start of the tournament was logistically impossible.
As a result, Bangladesh’s loss is Scotland’s gain. The Scottish team enter the tournament and will slot into Group C, alongside neighbours England, as well as Nepal, the West Indies, and Italy. Team Scotland is the beneficiary of the situation despite failing to qualify for the World Cup. They enter the tournament thanks to their status as the highest-ranked T20I outfit which is not already participating in the World Cup.
Entirety of the ICC top 20 now in the tournament
Scotland are ranked at 14 in the ICC’s men’s T20I rankings, with the teams ahead of them already participating in the tournament; they are the only team in the top 20 of the rankings not to have earned a spot in the tournament.
The team, captained by Richie Berrington, missed out during the European T20 World Cup qualifier round. The two spots from that regional qualification tournament went to Italy and the Netherlands. Scotland also finished behind Jersey, who were unlucky to finish behind Italy on net run-rate.
This will be Scotland’s fifth consecutive appearance at a T20 World Cup, going all the way back to 2016, and follows up on their strongest tournament. In the USA and West Indies, Scotland finished agonisingly short of the Super 8 stage, missing out to England only on net run-rate. A narrow loss to Australia in the last over of a chase and a rained-out match from a strong position against their neighbours left them with a campaign to remember.
Scotland will have the chance to try and do one better, drawn into the same group as England yet again. The team will be hunting for a better result this time around, but will have to face the threat of a strong West Indies unit. Given a second chance for this tournament, they will back themselves to have an impact as a surprise inclusion.
