ICC shifts Women’s T20 World Cup venue to UAE amidst turmoil in Bangladesh: ‘Shame not to be hosting…’

ICC has officially confirmed the change of venue for the 2024 Women's T20 World Cup from Bangladesh to the United Arab Emirates. The event will commence as scheduled on October 3 and will be played at two venues in Dubai and Sharjah until 20 October. ICC took the decision after a virtual board meeting where the Bangladesh Cricket Board also agreed to move the marquee tournament to the UAE.

Notably, Bangladesh has been in turmoil ever since Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country on August 5 after weeks of deadly unrest. Soon afterwards, a number of the country's top officials were forced to resign by the protesters, and an interim government was formed under the leadership of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus.

The new government did make a last-minute bid through the United Nations to keep the Women's T20 World Cup in the country, but with the likes of India, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom already issuing travel advisories against travelling to the Asian nation, their efforts were in vain.

Shame not to host Women's T20 World Cup: ICC Chief Executive

ICC Chief Executive Geoff Allardice while talking about the shift of venue 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. We look forward to taking an ICC global event to Bangladesh in the near future." Allardice added

Notably, the UAE has gained prominence as a cricket host nation in the recent past, having hosted many international and domestic tournaments. The country had also hosted the 2021 Men's T20 World Cup.