ICC updates T20 World Cup schedule after Bangladesh’s exit; Pakistan slated in Group A amid walkout claims

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has released the updated 2026 T20 World Cup schedule following Bangladesh’s exit due to a venue change row. Replacing Bangladesh with Scotland, the next highest-ranked non-qualified team, the ICC placed the newly inducted side in Group C, which already has two former winners, the West Indies and England, as well as the tournament’s debutants, Italy and Nepal. While Scotland comes in place of Bangladesh in Group C, the updated schedule also sees Pakistan, placed in Group A, retain their spot amid talks of PCB pulling out of the showpiece event in solidarity with the Bangladesh Cricket Board.

After the ICC officially announced its decision to remove Bangladesh from the upcoming 20-team tournament, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), led by Mohsin Naqvi, also Pakistan’s interior minister, threatened to pull its cricket team out of the multi-team event, adding that the Pakistani government would decide its team’s tournament fate.

What happened between Bangladesh and India?

Ahead of this marquee event, the BCCI directed IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to release seamer Mustafizur Rahman over political unrest, chaos and regular killings of minorities in Bangladesh. Irked over the lack of clarity and unreasonable explanation behind BCCI’s call, the BCB acted swiftly, holding back-to-back meetings with its board members.

Soon after, they retaliated by first suspending all IPL-related telecasts in Bangladesh and later formally writing to the ICC, asking them to move their scheduled league matches to Sri Lanka (the tournament’s co-host alongside India) due to security concerns in India.

The ICC addressed the matter and, upon getting the threat levels (in India) rechecked by itself and an independent security agency, reassured Bangladesh of no threats to any of their players, staff, fans or even journalists travelling to India for the showpiece event of the year; thus, denying BCB’s request.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board, however, chased them again, offering different proposals, including swapping its Group (B) with Ireland or Zimbabwe, only to face flat rejection from the apex body. The ICC, following the second meeting with the BCB officials, gave them the deadline to choose between travelling to India or being ready to be replaced.

After the BCB declared its decision against travelling to India, the ICC communicated its decision to Bangladesh and Scotland.

"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," ICC's statement read. "Over a period of more than three weeks, the ICC engaged with the BCB through multiple rounds of dialogue conducted in a transparent and constructive manner, including meetings held both via video conference 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. 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.

"In light of these findings, and after careful consideration of the broader implications, the ICC determined that it was not appropriate to amend the published event schedule,” it read.

Meanwhile, the 20-team tournament gets underway in less than two weeks in India and Sri Lanka.