Pakistan legend slams ICC for double-standards after Bangladesh's T20 World Cup omission

Bangladesh are replaced by Scotland in the T20 World Cup [Source: sujeetsuman1991]

On Saturday, Bangladesh were officially removed from the upcoming T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka after a long saga, where they were denied the venue change after showing their concerns over player security in India.

They were replaced by Scotland, who had originally missed out on the qualification, with Netherland and Italy going through the European qualifying rounds. The decision from ICC to ask Bangladesh to either play in India or back out of the tournament caused a stir, also receiving criticism from former greats like Mohammad Yousuf, among others.

Mohammad Yousuf calls out ICC for double-standards

The former Pakistan great and captain, who has represented them in 90 Tests and 288 ODIs, scoring 17000 runs, took to his X (formerly Twitter) account and took a dig at ICC for subtly favouring one board, i.e., BCCI, after the BCB's request to shift matches was denied.

"Very sad to see a cricket-loving nation like Bangladesh being deprived of cricket due to security concerns not being addressed. When similar concerns were raised earlier, a neutral venue was approved. Standards cannot change from country to country," he wrote in his tweet,

"ICC must act as the International Cricket Council, not appear to serve the interests of any single board. Fairness and consistency are the foundation of global cricket," he further added.

Mohammad Yousaf

@yousaf1788

Very sad to see a cricket-loving nation like Bangladesh being deprived of cricket due to security concerns not being addressed. When similar concerns were raised earlier, a neutral venue was approved. Standards cannot change from country to country. ICC must act as the

Is ICC showing double-standards?

This criticism from many on the internet comes after India was allowed to play all their ICC Champions Trophy matches in Dubai in 2025, while also emerging as the winners after they remained firm on their stance of not travelling to Pakistan for the competition due to the geopolitical tensions.

Similarly, Pakistan is not going to play any of their matches in India, with Sri Lanka to host them in the T20 World Cup 2026.

However, the situation with Bangladesh is different, considering the tournament schedule has been out for a long time and a lot of logistical and operational changes are required to be made, not only for them, but for the rest of Group C as well. As per the original schedule, they were supposed to play three matches in Kolkata and one in Mumbai.

Bangladesh's loss turns out as Scotland's gain

This is not the first instance of a full-member nation boycotting a tournament, and as an implication, Scotland are roped in to play the competition, which changes the Group C dynamics.

Previously, Scotland had lost to Italy and Jersey in the European Qualifiers, while winning against the Netherlands, and one game ended with no result. This meant that they had ended the competition at fourth place, behind Jersey, who missed out due to Italy's better net run-rate.

Despite finishing behind Jersey, the Scots qualify for the tournament on the virtue of a better ranking. They are placed 14th in the official rankings, while Jersey, who are 27th, unfortunately miss out once again on a technicality.