Revealed: Who will replace Pakistan in T20 World Cup 2026 if they pull out?

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Amid the speculations of Pakistan withdrawing from the prestigious ICC T20 World Cup 2026, the second team that might reap the benefits of the situation will be the African team Uganda, who are the next highest-ranked team that failed to qualify for the T20 World Cup.

The exclusion of Mustafizur Rahman from the IPL led to widespread fury within the Bangladesh Cricket Board, who were left infuriated over the snub. BCB then quickly responded with claims of security concerns in India and hence demanded a swap of venue to Sri Lanka.

The ICC have, however, turned all their proposals down, and the Bangladesh sports advisor in return announced that they will not travel to India and will boycott this edition of the 2026 ICC T20 World Cup.

Revealed: Who will replace Pakistan in the T20 World Cup 2026 if they pull out?

After Bangladesh announced their standpoint, all eyes have been on Pakistan to see what it would say on this matter. Pakistan had formerly claimed that it would also pull out from the competition if Bangladesh were treated unfairly.

Now, the PCB might be considering such options to withdraw from the competition, much like Bangladesh, to protest against the injustice against them. Hence, if ICC has to consider replacement options for Pakistan, then African underdogs Uganda are the likely contenders for the role.

After Scotland, who are ranked 14th in the ICC Rankings and who might be considered to replace Bangladesh for the World Cup, Uganda are the next best-ranked team to not qualify for the ICC event. Currently, they are ranked 21st in the ICC Men’s T20I Rankings and failed to beat Zimbabwe and Namibia to qualify for the T20 World Cup.

ICC threatened PCB with sanctions to stop the boycott of the T20 WC

After reports claimed that the PCB is considering options to withdraw from the tournament following Bangladesh’s footsteps, the ICC took an immediate measure against the board. According to further reports, the ICC warned them of sanctions.

They warned that the PCB’s national team would be banned from playing any bilateral series and would be excluded from participation in the Asia Cup and their domestic franchise league, PSL, would also have to face the consequences, as they would not grant an NOC for overseas players in the Pakistan Super League.

Seemingly, it paid off for the ICC, as the PCB have revealed their squad for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup, which seems as a clear indication that they are no longer considering options of withdrawing from the competition.

ICC T20I Team Rankings

Position Team Matches Points Rating
1 India 73 19914 273
2 Australia 42 11199 267
3 England 45 11609 258
4 New Zealand 55 13762 250
5 South Africa 53 12739 240
6 West Indies 64 15038 235
7 Pakistan 75 17604 235
8 Sri Lanka 50 11422 228
9 Bangladesh 67 14925 223
10 Afghanistan 48 10650 222
11 Ireland 38 7649 201
12 Zimbabwe 66 13190 200
13 Netherlands 35 6366 182
14 Scotland 23 4178 182
15 Namibia 35 6344 181
16 UAE 60 10584 176
17 Nepal 42 7384 176
18 USA 33 5769 175
19 Canada 35 5374

154

20 Oman 47 7140 152
21 Uganda 56 7952 142

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