The Women’s T20 World Cup has been shifted from Bangladesh to the UAE, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said on Tuesday.
The tournament will take place across the two venues in the UAE – Dubai and Sharjah – from October 3 to 20.
“It is a shame not to be hosting the Women’s T20 World Cup in Bangladesh as we know the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) would have staged a memorable event,” ICC Chief Executive Geoff Allardice said in a statement.
Stay up to date with the latest news. Follow KT on WhatsApp Channels.
“I would like to thank the team at the BCB for exploring all avenues to try and enable the event to be hosted in Bangladesh, but travel advisories from the governments of a number of the participating teams meant that wasn’t feasible. However, they will retain hosting rights. We look forward to taking an ICC global event to Bangladesh in the near future.
“I’d also like to thank the Emirates Cricket Board for stepping in to host on behalf of the BCB and Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe for their generous offers of support, and we look forward to seeing ICC global events in both of those countries in 2026.”
Bangladesh is facing a political unrest after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was forced to resign and flee the country following months-long students protest to end a quota system for government jobs.
In the past also, the UAE has stepped up to deliver successful events in the aftermath of terror attacks in Pakistan and the Covid-19 pandemic.
The UAE hosted the Indian Premier League (IPL) as well as the Pakistan Super League following the Covid outbreak.
The UAE also hosted the Pakistan cricket team’s home matches for several years after the 2009 Lahore terror attack on the Sri Lankan team.
In 2021, the UAE hosted the Men’s T20 World Cup after tournament host India was unable to stage the premier tournament due to a deadly second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
While the UAE has hosted several big international men’s cricket tournaments since the mid 1980s, this is the first time the country is getting an opportunity to host a premier women’s cricket tournament.
Ten teams qualified for the 2024 edition of the T20 World Cup with the teams being divided into two groups of five each.
Group A will feature defending champions Australia, India, New Zealand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka., while Bangladesh, England, West Indies, Scotland and South Africa will battle it out in Group B.
The top two teams from each group will qualify for the semifinals.
This will be the ninth edition of the Women’s T20 World Cup after England hosted the first edition of the tournament in 2009.
Australia are the most successful team, having won the title six times (2010, 2012, 2014, 2018, 2020, 2023).
England (2009) and the West Indies (2016) are the two other successful teams in the tournament.