The Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 has finally moved out of Bangladesh, and now it will be hosted by the UAE. However, there are no changes in the schedule, and the tournament will take place as it was planned—from 3 to 20 October.
The ICC has decided to change the venue for this mega event because of the countrywide riots and unrest in Bangladesh after the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Bangladesh’s PM Sheikh Hasina fled to India after their resignation, and since then an interim government has taken place to run the country.
However, still, countless incidents of vandalism and looting, as well as acts of violence, have been reported from Bangladesh. This is why the ICC decided to relocate the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024.
Regarding the relocation of the Women’s T20 World Cup, the chief executive of the ICC, Geoff Allardice, said, “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. 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.”
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“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.”
The Bangladesh government had made some dying efforts through the United Nations (UN) to retain the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup within its boundaries. But some nations, including Australia, India, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom (England and Scotland), had issued travel advisories to their citizens, warning them not to visit Bangladesh due to unrest in the country.
This forced ICC to look out for a venue where all participating members of ICC cannot create an object regarding security concerns. In the race to secure hosting rights for the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024, the UAE, Sri Lanka, and Zimbabwe emerged as frontrunners, but in the end, the UAE won this race.
The UAE has previous experience of hosting such big events on short notice; the 2021 Men’s T20 World Cup is an example of this, which the UAE co-hosted with Oman after COVID-19 forced it out of India, in addition to hosting many qualifier tournaments.
The tournament will take place across the two venues in the UAE—Dubai and Sharjah—from 3 to 20 October.
The UAE, home to the ICC headquarters, has emerged as a major cricket hub in recent years, hosting a number of qualification competitions as well as important competitions like the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in 2021, thanks to its world-class facilities and infrastructure.
