India, Jan. 22 -- ICC T20 World Cup 2026's Group C was designed with a familiar tension: two heavyweights who expect to qualify, one full-member capable of ambushes, and two underdogs hoping to turn one night into a tournament. Take Bangladesh out and you don't just remove a team - you remove the group's most important middle layer.

And here's the clean way to understand it: competition changes in two different directions depending on how Bangladesh exit. If they're replaced, the cricket stays intact but the group softens. If fixtures become forfeits, the group stops behaving like a sporting contest and starts behaving like an admin outcome.

A replacement keeps the group functional: everyone still plays the same number of matches, quali...