Former Australia fast bowler Jason Gillespie was among the first cricketers to question the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) decision to eject Bangladesh from the T20 World Cup, after he drew parallels with the India–Champions Trophy scenario in a social media post. However, he deleted the tweet soon after, even as screenshots of it went viral. On Sunday, the Australian explained why.
ICC’s refusal to address Bangladesh’s concerns over travelling to India for the T20 World Cup, and its subsequent decision to replace them with Scotland, did not sit well with Gillespie. Bangladesh had cited “security reasons” amid rising regional tensions and repeatedly urged the apex body to provide an alternate venue for their group-stage matches.
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Gillespie said he failed to “make sense” of the ICC not accommodating Bangladesh’s request despite Sri Lanka being available as a co-host for the 2026 T20 World Cup, especially when the governing body had earlier assigned Dubai as a neutral venue for India after they declined to travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy last year.
“Has there been an explanation from the ICC why Bangladesh could not play their games outside of India?” Gillespie had tweeted hours after the ICC officially announced Scotland as the replacement. “From memory, India refused to play Champions Trophy matches in Pakistan and they were allowed to play those games outside of Pakistan. Can someone make this make sense?”
{{/usCountry}}“Has there been an explanation from the ICC why Bangladesh could not play their games outside of India?” Gillespie had tweeted hours after the ICC officially announced Scotland as the replacement. “From memory, India refused to play Champions Trophy matches in Pakistan and they were allowed to play those games outside of Pakistan. Can someone make this make sense?”
{{/usCountry}}The tweet, however, was deleted soon after. Gillespie later clarified that he removed it due to the abuse he received online.
“Because I got abused for asking a simple question, that’s why,” Gillespie wrote in a follow-up post.
Scotland, who qualified as the next-highest-ranked team outside the original World Cup line-up, have been placed in Group B. They will open their campaign against the West Indies on February 7 in Kolkata, before facing Italy on February 9 and England on February 14. Scotland will conclude their group-stage fixtures against Nepal in Mumbai on February 17.