Scotland replaced Bangladesh for the T20 World Cup 2026 scheduled to be played in India and Sri Lanka and are now set to feature in the marquee tournament. A major concern for them is getting the visas sorted for their squad members, especially fast bowler Safyaan Sharif, who has Pakistani heritage.
Sharif was born in Huddersfield, England, to a Pakistani father and a British-Pakistani mother, and moved to Scotland at the age of seven.
“We are all committed [to] working with the ICC to make that happen,” Cricket Scotland’s CEO Trudy Lindblade said on Monday. “The visa piece is always slightly unknown, and it doesn’t matter whether you’ve got three days or whether you’ve got 45 days.”
Our men’s squad are heading to India… ✈️ 🇮🇳 🏆https://t.co/SHqaos2bCz #FollowScotland #ChooseCricket pic.twitter.com/HPgfF9Grf7
— Cricket Scotland (@CricketScotland) January 24, 2026
“Certainly that’s been our focus in the last 48 hours: just getting those visas done so our players are all ready to go. They’re all in the middle of submitting their visas and we will be there on the ground in India as quickly as we can, so it’s just a matter of time now. [The ICC] can only give us the assurances of the bits that they can control and, absolutely, of the bits that they control, we are working with them and obviously they’re working with the BCCI and local people on the ground there to make sure that we are getting all of that support that we need.”
Introducing your Scotland squad heading to the ICC Men’s #T20WorldCup in India and Sri Lanka 🤩
➡️ https://t.co/cmtJB52phQ pic.twitter.com/2EQgZb5CdH
— Cricket Scotland (@CricketScotland) January 26, 2026
“So, absolutely, [they have given] the assurance that they can provide of things that were in their control. There is a team working very, very hard to not just help us, but to help 19 other teams as well that are also going to a World Cup. But we are their intense focus right now.”
Earlier, USA pacer Ali Khan stated that he, Shayan Jahangir, Mohammad Mohsin, and Ehsan Adil, all of Pakistani origin, were denied a visa to travel to India. However, it was later confirmed that there was a ‘delay’ in the process.
Also Read: Bangladeshi Reporters Denied Entry In India to Cover T20 World Cup 2026
