DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Bangladesh was replaced by Scotland in the T20 World Cup on Saturday for refusing to play in tournament co-host India.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board wanted its games shifted to co-host Sri Lanka due to security concerns but the International Cricket Council rejected the request and said there were no security threats in India against Bangladesh.
In a statement, the ICC said there was no “credible or verifiable security threat to the Bangladesh national team in India.”
“In light of these findings, and after careful consideration of the broader implications, the ICC determined that it was not appropriate to amend the published event schedule.”
The tournament starts in two weeks.
Bangladesh will miss the men's T20 World Cup for the first time.
Scotland was already the designated replacement as the highest ranked team at No. 14 to have missed qualifying for the 20-team event.
Scotland will play in Group C against England, the West Indies, Nepal and Italy.
Bangladesh tried for three weeks to persuade the ICC, upset after fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman was removed from the Indian Premier League by order of the Board of Control for Cricket in India. The BCCI has not elaborated.
The ICC gave the BCB a deadline of Thursday to change its mind. But the BCB confirmed its stance after meeting on Thursday with the government and some national team players.
The BCB said it was the government's decision not to go to India.
Cricket Scotland said it accepted the ICC invite on Saturday.
“This is an exciting opportunity for Scotland’s players,” chief executive Trudy Lindblade said in a statement. “We also acknowledge this opportunity has arisen out of challenging and unique circumstances.”
Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Mohsin Naqvi criticized the ICC for “double standards” by not shifting Bangladesh’s games to Sri Lanka.
Pakistan will play its games in Sri Lanka because of political tensions with India.
Pakistan has yet to announce its World Cup squad and Naqvi said a final decision on the team’s participation will be made after talking to the government.
“Our stance (on World Cup participation) will be what the government of Pakistan instructs me,” he said. “The prime minister is not in Pakistan right now. When he returns I’ll be able to give you our final decision. It’s the government’s decision. We obey them, not the ICC.”
Naqvi said the ICC did an injustice to Bangladesh.
“You can’t have double standards. You can’t say for one country (India) they can do whatever they want and for the others to have to do the complete opposite," he said. "That’s why we’ve taken this stand and made clear Bangladesh have had an injustice done to them. They should play in the World Cup, they are a major stakeholder in cricket.”
Naqvi said if the government blocked Pakistan from playing in the World Cup “then maybe the ICC will bring in a 22nd team (after Scotland). It’s up to the government.”
Pakistan is scheduled to host Australia for three T20s next week before both teams are scheduled to fly to Colombo for the World Cup.
AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket
FILE - Bangladesh's Mahmudullah Riyad reacts after playing a shot during the ICC Men's T20 World Cup cricket match between Bangladesh and South Africa at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in Westbury, New York, Monday, June 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger,File)
FILE - Sri Lanka's Maheesh Theekshana bowls during the men's T20 World Cup cricket match between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh at Grand Prairie Stadium, Grand Prairie, Texas, Friday, June 7, 2024. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)
FILE - Bangladesh's Rishad Hossain, right, is congratulated by teammate Mahmudullah after dismissing Australia's Travis Head during the ICC Men's T20 World Cup cricket match between Australia and Bangladesh in North Sound, Antigua and Barbuda, Thursday, June 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Thousands of people rallied Saturday in the cradle of the modern Civil Rights Movement to mobilize a new voting rights era as conservative states dismantle congressional districts that helped secure Black political representation.
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey called Montgomery “sacred soil” in the fight for civil rights.
“If we in our generation do not now do our duty, we will lose the gains and the rights and the liberties that our ancestors afforded us,” Booker said.
The crowd was led in chants of “we won’t go back” and “we fight.”
“We are not going down without a fight. We are not going down to Jim Crow maps,” Shalela Dowdy, a plaintiff in the Alabama redistricting case said.
A crowd of thousands gathered in front of the city’s historic Alabama Capitol, the place where the Confederacy was formed in 1861 and where the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke in 1965 at the end of the Selma-to-Montgomery Voting Rights March. The stage, set in front of the Capitol, was flanked from behind by statues of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and civil rights icon Rosa Parks — dueling tributes erected nearly 90 years apart.
Speakers said the spot was once the temple of the confederacy and became holy ground of the civil rights movement.
Some in the crowd said the effort to redraw lines has echoes of the past.
“We lived through the “60s. It takes you back. When you think that Alabama’s moving forward, it takes two steps back,” said Camellia A Hooks, 70, of Montgomery, Alabama.
The rally began in Selma, where a violent clash between law enforcement and voting rights activists in 1965 galvanized support for passage of the Voting Rights Act. It then moved to the state Capitol, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “How Long, Not Long” speech that same year.
A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling involving Louisiana hollowed out voting rights law that was already weakened by a separate decision in 2013 and then narrowed further over the years. That helped clear the way for stricter voter ID laws, registration restrictions, and limits on early voting and polling place changes, including in states that once needed federal preclearance before they could change voting laws because of their historical discrimination against Black voters.
Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement are alarmed by the speed of the rollbacks, noting that protections won through generations of sacrifice have been weakened in little more than a decade.
Kirk Carrington, 75, was a teen in 1965 when law enforcement officers attacked marchers in Selma on what became known as “Bloody Sunday.” A white man on a horse wielding a stick chased Carrington through the streets.
“It’s really just appalling to me and all the young people that marched during the ’60s, fought hard to get voting rights, equal rights and civil rights,” Carrington said. “It’s sad that it’s continuing after 60-plus-odd years that we are still fighting for the same thing we fought for back then.”
Montgomery is home to one of the congressional districts that is being altered in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling.
A federal court in 2023 redrew Alabama's 2nd Congressional District after ruling that the state intentionally diluted the voting power of Black residents, who make up about 27% of its population. The court said there should be a district where Black people are a majority or near-majority and have an opportunity to elect their candidate of choice.
But the Supreme Court cleared the way for a different map that could let the GOP reclaim the seat. While the matter remains under litigation, the state plans special primaries Aug. 11 under the new map.
Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures, who won election in the district in 2024, said the dispute is not about him but rather people's opportunity to have representation.
“When Republicans are literally turning back the clock on what representation, what the faces of representation, look like, what the opportunities, legitimate opportunities for representation look like across this country, then I think it starts to resonate with people in a little bit of a different way,” Figures said.
Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, a Republican, said the Louisiana ruling provided an opportunity to revisit a map that was forced on the state by the federal court.
“People tend to forget what happened. When this thing went to court, the Republican Party had that seat, congressional seat two,” Ledbetter said last week. “There’s been a push through the courts to try to overtake some of these red state seats, and that’s certainly what happened in that one.”
Evan Milligan, the lead plaintiff in the Alabama redistricting case, said there is grief over the implosion of the Voting Rights Act but it is crucial that people recommit to the fight.
“We have to accept that this is the new reality, whether we like it or not,” Milligan said. “We don’t have to accept that this will be the reality for the next 10 years or two years or forever.”
A man sings a spirtual song during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
The State capitol is seen during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
A protestor holds a sign of the late Georgia Congressman John Lewis during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
A man sings a spirtual song during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
A protestor holds a sign of the late Georgia Congressman John Lewis during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
U.S. Sen Corey Booker, D-NY., has his photo taken during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
People gather during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
U.S. Sen Corey Booker, D-NY., has his photo taken during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Aaron McGuire sings a spirtual song during a voting rally, Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
