Sports

  It is now official: Scotland has replaced Bangladesh in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026, starting in India and Sri Lanka on February 7. It was inevitable after the International Cricket Council (ICC) gave the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) a 24-hour deadline a couple of days back, and on Saturday (January 24), finally cracked the whip. It was only a matter of time before Bangladesh was replaced by Scotland, and the final call was taken on Saturday morning when it was learnt that ICC CEO Sanjog Gupta formally wrote to the ICC Board that Bangladesh's demands were not in line with ICC's policy. In the letter, marked to all members of the Board, Gupta is believed to have mentioned that the BCB was not complying with the ICC Board's decision and that there was no other option but to invite another country - Scotland in this case - in place of Bangladesh for the marquee event. The copy, naturally, was marked to Aminul Islam, the BCB president, who is a member of the ICC Bo...

  The Board of Control for Cricket in India is set to revamp its Men's annual central contracts structure, with the A-plus category likely to be done away with for the upcoming 2025-26 season. The decision is a consequence of the evolving international commitments of senior players, most notably Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who are now available only for ODIs after stepping away from Tests and T20Is. Under the existing framework, the A-plus bracket carries an annual retainer of INR 7 crore, followed by INR 5 crore in Category A, INR 3 crore in Category B, and INR 1 crore in Category C. For the next cycle, however, the contracts are expected to feature only the A, B, and C categories, effectively suspending the top tier for the time being. Last season, only four players - Rohit, Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravindra Jadeja - were part of the A-plus group. Of them, Bumrah is currently the only player active across all three formats. Kohli and Rohit are now ODI-only cricketers, while J...

  After everything, Ryan Rickelton will go to the T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka and India next month. So will Tristan Stubbs. But Tony de Zorzi and Donovan Ferreira, who were in the squad, will not. Neither, at this stage, will Ottneil Baartman. The changes, which CSA revealed on Thursday, were made not because of a rethink in the wake of performances in the SA20. Instead, they were dictated by injury. And there may be more where those came from. David Miller is probably out of Paarl Royals' eliminator against Joburg Super Kings in Centurion on Thursday because of the groin he hurt playing against Joburg in Paarl on Monday. Lungi Ngidi bowled only half of his overs for Pretoria Capitals in qualifier one against Sunrisers Eastern Cape at Kingsmead on Wednesday before leaving the field with a seriously strapped leg. Dewald Brevis scored an unbeaten 75 off 38 to put Pretoria in Sunday's final at Newlands, but injured a finger in the process. Miller, Ngidi, and Brevis are all in South...

  Asif Nazrul, the Bangladesh government's sports advisor, on Thursday said that the ICC and the BCCI made no effort to convince the Bangladesh Cricket Board of the security for their players in the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup, scheduled to be hosted in India and Sri Lanka. He also added that they did not deliver justice to their plea of shifting matches to Sri Lanka. On Wednesday, the  ICC rejected Bangladesh's plea to relocate their venues from India to Sri Lanka, and instead gave the Bangladesh Cricket Board 24 hours to make a decision on their participation. The ICC has also kept Scotland as a standby if Bangladesh eventually doesn't agree to travel to India to take part in the tournament. Nazrul, who had a  meeting with national cricketers  on Thursday, told reporters that they are not ready to change their stance. "The purpose of the meeting was simply to explain to the players why the government took this decision and give them the context. I believe they under...