The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Saturday announced that Scotland would replace Bangladesh at the T20 World Cup, which is scheduled to be held in India next month.

Bangladesh had announced on Jan 4 that it would not play its T20 World Cup matches in India after its player Mustafizur Rahman was released by his Indian Premier League (IPL) team amid growing tensions between the two countries. Subsequently, Bangladesh had “formally requested” the ICC to shift their games to Sri Lanka, which the council had rejected. However, Bangladesh had insisted it would not travel to India for the tournament.

In the statement posted on its website on Saturday, the ICC stated that the decision was made in the absence of “any credible or verifiable security threat” to the Bangladesh national team in India.

“Scotland has been called up to take Bangladesh’s place in Group C, joining England, Italy, Nepal and the West Indies,” the ICC announced.

The ICC noted that Scotland, ranked the 14th-highest T20 team in the world, was selected since they were the next-highest ranked team after Bangladesh.

The statement further said that the governing body rejected the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s (BCB) request to move their matches from India to Sri Lanka, who are co-hosts of the tournament.

“Independent security assessments were conducted from internal and external experts,” the statement read.

“The [ICC] Board made the difficult decision that it was not feasible to meet the BCB’s requests so close to the tournament,” the ICC stated.

“The decision follows an extensive process undertaken by the ICC to address concerns raised by the BCB regarding the hosting of its scheduled matches in India,” it said.

Engagement between the ICC and the BCB took place over more than three weeks, the statement outlined, adding that multiple rounds of dialogue were conducted “in a transparent and constructive manner” with meetings held both via video link and in person.

“As part of this process, the ICC reviewed the concerns cited by the BCB, commissioned and considered independent security assessments from internal and external experts, and shared detailed security and operational plans covering federal and state arrangements, as well as enhanced and escalating security protocols for the event,” the statement added.

“These assurances were reiterated at several stages, including during discussions involving the ICC Business Corporation (IBC) Board. The ICC’s assessments concluded that there was no credible or verifiable security threat to the Bangladesh national team, officials or supporters in India,” it stated.

Based on the findings, cricket’s governing body determined that it was “not appropriate” to amend or change the tournament’s schedule.

Furthermore, the statement added that following a meeting on Wednesday, the BCB was granted 24 hours to confirm its participation in India as scheduled.

“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,” it added.

Naqvi rues unfair treatment of Bangladesh

Earlier in the day, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said that Bangladesh was being treated unfairly and should be allowed to participate in the tournament.

Naqvi, who is also the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, made the remarks while speaking to the media in Lahore.

In his media talk, Naqvi said that the PCB’s stance on the situation would be according to the government of Pakistan’s instructions.

“Bangladesh has been treated unfairly. I said the same in the board meeting of the ICC. You cannot have double standards, where one country can make whatever decision whenever and do the total opposite for another country.

“That is why we have taken the stand that Bangladesh is being treated unfairly and should be allowed to play the World Cup in any case. They are a major stakeholder and this injustice should not be done.”

Asked about a potential boycott of the World Cup, he said the government of Pakistan would make the decision. “We are waiting for the prime minister to return,” he said, adding that a final decision would be taken then.

He was also asked whether he would suggest to the ICC a hybrid model for Bangladesh, similar to the one between Pakistan and India.

“The thing is that Bangladesh is the same member as Pakistan. And our stance is that if you have done this favour with Pakistan and India, then you should do the same with Bangladesh,” he said.

“The main reason for this is that one country cannot dictate another. And if this dictation is attempted, then Pakistan definitely has its own stance,” he said.

Asked whether there was a “Plan B” for a scenario in which Pakistan would also not play the T20 World Cup, he quipped, “Let the decision come first; we have Plan A, B, C, D.”