CBTF
Jan 27, 2026
00:01:00
Zainullah Ihsan has earned his maiden international call-up after being named in Scotland's 15-member squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka. The Afghan-born fast bowler is the only uncapped player in the group, having recently qualified to represent Scotland. His inclusion headlines the first squad selection overseen by new men's head coach Owen Dawkins, who was appointed last month.
"There's obviously a great opportunity for Zainullah Ihsan, and whenever he's played at youth level or for the 'A' squad he's shown an exciting range of skills and bowled at genuine pace. We're delighted for him and excited to see how he performs on his first international tour," said Steve Snell, head of performance at Cricket Scotland.
Richie Berrington will lead the side, which sees as many as 11 players from Scotland's 2024 World Cup squad in the West Indies and USA picked again. Tom Bruce, Finlay McCreath and Oliver Davidson are set to feature at a World Cup for the first time, following their involvement in Scotland's T20 and ODI squads over the past year.
Scotland are an 11th hour entrant to the World Cup, having only been approached to participate last week as the next-highest ranked team, replacing Bangladesh, who wanted their games shifted out of India, a request the ICC did not entertain.
"It's been a whirlwind forty-eight hours for everyone at Cricket Scotland, and I know Steve, Trudy Lindblade and everyone in the organisation have been working solidly to get everything sorted for the players and support staff since we learnt we would be participating at the World Cup," head coach Dawkins said.
"We're all very excited and feeling privileged to have this opportunity. The players have been working hard in a fitness phase in recent weeks with Scott Hislen preparing for the ICC Cricket World Cup League Two series in Namibia at the end of March, and I have no doubt that this will help us in the next few weeks.
"We were about to begin transitions to more individual skills specific sessions and started with fielding sessions last week, but that has now been fast tracked with the news we received on Saturday. There is no doubt that other squads in the tournament will have had better opportunities to structure their preparation, and we are at peace with that. We have no doubt we have players in our squad that can make a real impact in this tournament, and we are excited to be going and competing in India."
With limited preparation time available, Scotland have also named two travelling reserves - Jasper Davidson and Jack Jarvis - along with three non-travelling reserves. The final squad remains subject to visa approvals for players and staff. Scotland will open their World Cup campaign against West Indies at the Eden Gardens on February 7.
Squad: Richie Berrington (c), Tom Bruce, Matthew Cross, Bradley Currie, Oliver Davidson, Chris Greaves, Zainullah Ihsan, Michael Jones, Michael Leask, Finlay McCreath, Brandon McMullen, George Munsey, Safyaan Sharif, Mark Watt, Bradley Wheal
Travelling reserves: Jasper Davidson, Jack Jarvis
Non-travelling reserves: Mackenzie Jones, Chris McBride, Charlie Tear