From Zimbabwe to Bangladesh: How ‘Lucky Scotland’ Keeps Entering T20 World Cups

Scotland replaces Bangladesh in the ICC 2026 T20 World Cup, continuing a unique pattern where the “lucky team” steps in whenever a scheduled team withdraws, as seen previously in 2009.

Scotland Gets Second Chance as Replacement Team in T20 World Cup History (Image Source: Google)

Of the teams who were scheduled to play in the ICC 2026 T20 World Cup, now Bangladesh is out, and Scotland is in. This change didn't come easily, as the involved parties played less of cricket and more of a game of political manoeuvring. It's not that the T20 World Cup hadn't seen any crises before in its history, but this time, the decision to change teams due to a specific reason sparked new controversies.

Almost the same had happened in the 2009 T20 World Cup. To understand what transpired on that occasion, the story needs to commence from the 1996 ODI World Cup. The hosts were India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. As per schedule, Australia and West Indies were to play one match each in Colombo. Due to the civil war-like situation and a bomb blast two weeks before the tournament, concerns arose about the teams' safety in Sri Lanka. As a result, both teams refused to play in Colombo and forfeited their match points.

This started a new tradition and happened again in the 2003 ODI World Cup. This time, in protest against Robert Mugabe's style of governance in one of the co-hosts Zimbabwe, England refused to play in Harare. Similarly on fear stemming from a bomb blast a few days earlier in another co-host Kenya, New Zealand refused to play against Kenya in Nairobi. Both teams that refused to play forfeited their points.

The 2009 T20 World Cup was held in England. Zimbabwe were expected to settle the score for what happened in 2003 but unfortunately this time also England played spoilsport and their Home Office indicated that visas shall not be granted to the Zimbabwean players for the tournament. The ICC could do nothing when the crisis escalated to such an extent that there was a call for moving the T20 World Cup out of England altogether.

Differences of opinion on the crisis divided the ICC. Now it’s on record that compromise was eventually reached to save cricket from a major crisis and Zimbabwe withdrew from the tournament. The circumstances of Zimbabwe's withdrawal then, helped them to receive their share of full participation fee, without playing while Bangladesh are likely to lose not only this fee, but may face further penalties. Interestingly, in both the instances of the team withdrawal, the team that replaced them was Scotland.

In the 2009 conflict among the ICC's Test-playing nations and the threat of ICC breaking up and the present crisis, a common factor is involvement of India.

Britain was accusing Robert Mugabe of election rigging, use of violence on opponents, and acting like a dictator and this affected the cricket relations also. Coincidentally, in 2009, Zimbabwe was scheduled to tour England for a two-match series, but visas to the players were refused. However Britain’s refusal to grant visas to Zimbabwean players for the 2009 T20 World Cup became an issue in the ICC.

This visa issue began to simmer at the 2008 annual ICC meeting. BCCI, with the support of the Asian Test lobby, sided with Zimbabwe. The message was clear: if visas weren't granted, the World Cup should be moved elsewhere. Now England played the card of government interference in Zimbabwean cricket and argued for their suspension from the ICC, as a punishment for violation of ICC guidelines. Thus the focus shifted from the visa crisis to Zimbabwe staying in the ICC. The Asian Test lobby prevented this from happening, and the ICC became a divided house.

The two-day annual ICC meeting was extended into a third day. The new Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat and President Sharad Pawar took over. Sharad Pawar's appointment as the new ICC chief was seen as an end of the dominance of England and Australia lobbies in the ICC. Sharad Pawar used his political experience, held several meetings with the stakeholders and reached a solution: Zimbabwe agreed not to participate in the 2009 T20 World Cup (this resolved the visa issue), Zimbabwe were assured of no action against them for their non-participation in the scheduled tournament, and to receive an equal share of the tournament's earnings along with the other Test-playing nations.