Cricket Scotland have confirmed that their men’s team have accepted an invitation from the International Cricket Council (ICC) to participate in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 in India and Sri Lanka.
Following Bangladesh’s exit, Scotland have replaced Bangladesh in Group C of the tournament.
The ICC on Saturday officially confirmed the development after Bangladesh refused to travel to India citing security reasons. Following Bangladesh’s decision, the world governing body extended an invitation to Scotland, which was readily accepted.
Cricket Scotland chief executive Trudy Lindblad said the invitation had been received earlier in the day and the panel had no hesitation in agreeing to take part.
“I received a letter from the ICC earlier today asking if our men’s team would play in the Men’s T20 World Cup and we accepted,” Lindblad said.
“We are grateful to the ICC for extending this invitation. This is a fantastic opportunity for Scotland’s players to compete on the world stage in front of millions of supporters. We acknowledge that this opportunity arises out of challenging and unique circumstances,” he added.
He added that the team has already started preparations for the tournament.
“Our team has been training for a few weeks in preparation for the upcoming tours and is ready to immediately adapt to the local conditions and arrive in India, ready to play and contribute to an exciting ICC Men’s T20 World Cup,” said Lindblad.
Cricket Scotland chairman Wilf Walsh also welcomed the decision, confirming that ICC chairman Jay Shaw had personally given the update.
“I welcome the invitation from ICC President Jay Shaw to confirm that Scotland will receive an invitation to play in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup,” Walsh said.
“I am happy to accept on behalf of our team and they are ready to go. We thank the ICC for this opportunity,” he added.
Earlier this month, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) formally requested the ICC to shift their matches from India to Sri Lanka due to security concerns.
However, after several rounds of discussions, the ICC rejected the request and the match schedule will remain unchanged.
The ICC later said there was no “credible or verifiable” security threat to justify changing the matches, and then replaced Bangladesh with Scotland in the 20-team tournament scheduled for February 7 to March 8.
Although Scotland finished fourth in the Men’s T20 World Cup Europe regional final last year, they were included in the tournament based on the current ICC T20I rankings.
Scotland are ranked 14th, making them the highest-ranked team not to qualify for the event in the first place.
For the uninitiated, they will kick off their T20 World Cup 2026 campaign against the West Indies in Kolkata on February 7.
They face Italy on February 9 and England on February 14 before traveling to Mumbai to face Nepal in the final Group C match on February 17.