ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 to be held in Dubai, Sharjah after political turmoil forces tournament out of Bangladesh

The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024, scheduled to be held in Bangladesh from October 3 to October 20, has now been moved to the United Arab Emirates.

The ICC Women’s T2o World Cup 2024 will now be held on the same dates in Dubai and Sharjah.

The decision to move the tournament out of Bangladesh arose after the political turmoil the country has been facing. Many governments across the globe have also issued travel advisories against travelling to Bangladesh.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed the decision and ICC Chief Executive Geoff Allardice said that although it was a shame that Bangladesh wouldn’t be hosting the tournament, the hosting rights will still remain with the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB). “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 said, in a statement.

Allardice also thanked the Emirates Cricket Board for stepping in to host the marquee tournament on behalf of the Bangladesh Cricket Board. “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,” Allardice’s statement added.

The move comes after many countries including India, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom (England and Scotland) issued travel advisories asking their citizens, including the cricket teams, to not travel to Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, Indian cricket team’s vice-captain Smriti Mandhana is now ranked third in the world in the latest ICC ODI rankings for women. She is ranked fourth in the T20 international rankings.

Smriti with 738 points is the top-ranked Indian batter in the ODI format with skipper Harmanpreet Kaur being the second best Indian, ranked ninth in the world in the ODI format.