Dubai
\nThe International Cricket Council (ICC) on Saturday confirmed that Scotland would replace Bangladesh at the upcoming T20 World Cup, which is scheduled to be held in India next month.
\nBangladesh 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 \u201cformally requested\u201d the ICC to shift their games to Sri Lanka.
\nSubsequently, the ICC rejected the country\u2019s request to shift its games. However, Bangladesh insisted it would not travel to India for the tournament.
\nIn the statement posted on its website on Saturday, the ICC stated that the decision was made in the absence of \u201cany credible or verifiable security threat\u201d to the Bangladesh national team in India.
\n\u201cScotland has been called up to take Bangladesh\u2019s place in Group C, joining England, Italy, Nepal and the West Indies,\u201d the ICC announced.
\nThe 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.
\nThe statement read that the governing body rejected the Bangladesh Cricket Board\u2019s (BCB) request to move their matches from India to Sri Lanka, who are co-hosts of the tournament.
\n\u201cIndependent security assessments were conducted from internal and external experts,\u201d the statement read.
\n\u201cThe [ICC] Board made the difficult decision that it was not feasible to meet the BCB\u2019s requests so close to the tournament,\u201d the ICC stated.
\n\u201cThe 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,\u201d it said.
\nEngagement between the ICC and the BCB took place over more than three weeks, the statement outlined, adding that multiple rounds of dialogue were conducted \u201cin a transparent and constructive manner\u201d with meetings held both via video link and in person.
\n\u201cAs 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,\u201d the statement added.
\n\u201cThese assurances were reiterated at several stages, including during discussions involving the ICC Business Corporation (IBC) Board. The ICC\u2019s assessments concluded that there was no credible or verifiable security threat to the Bangladesh national team, officials or supporters in India,\u201d it stated.
\nBased on the findings, cricket\u2019s governing body determined that it was \u201cnot appropriate\u201d to amend or change the tournament\u2019s schedule.
\nFurthermore, the statement added that following a meeting on Wednesday, the BCB was granted 24 hours to confirm its participation in India as scheduled.
\n\u201cAs no confirmation was received within the deadline, the ICC proceeded in line with its established governance and qualification processes to identify a replacement team,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n
Naqvi rues unfair treatment of Bangladesh
\nEarlier in the day, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said that Bangladesh was being treated unfairly and should be allowed to participate in the tournament.
\nNaqvi, who is also the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, made the remarks while speaking to the media in Lahore.
\nIn his media talk, Naqvi said that the PCB\u2019s stance on the situation would be according to the government of Pakistan\u2019s instructions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dubai The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Saturday confirmed that Scotland would replace Bangladesh at the upcoming 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487052,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-527569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n