New Delhi: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has decided to relocate the 2024 Womens T20 World Cup from Bangladesh to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) amid rising political tensions in Bangladesh. The decision was made during the ICC board meeting after several participating nations raised concerns over the safety and security of their teams due to large-scale protests in Bangladesh.Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe had also expressed interest in hosting the prestigious tournament, but the UAE emerged as the preferred choice. ICC acknowledges BCBs efforts despite unfortunate circumstancesIt is a shame not to be hosting the Womens T20 World Cup in Bangladesh as we know the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) would have staged a memorable event, stated ICC Chief Executive Geoff Allardice on Tuesday, August 20. Despite the change, the BCB will retain the hosting rights for a future ICC event, similar to how India retained its hosting rights when the UAE hosted the mens T20 World Cup in 2021.Allardice expressed gratitude to the BCB for their efforts, saying, 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 wasnt feasible. We look forward to taking an ICC global event to Bangladesh in the near future.UAE to host event with full support from ECBThe Emirates Cricket Board has stepped in to host the tournament, scheduled from October 3 to 20, across three venues: Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai. Id 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. We look forward to seeing ICC global events in both of those countries in 2026, Allardice added.The ninth edition of ICC Womens #T20WorldCup to be held in October 2024 has been relocated to a new venue.Details 👇https://t.co/20vK9EMEdN— ICC (@ICC) August 20, 2024The tournament will see top teams such as defending champions Australia, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka in Group A, while England, Bangladesh, Scotland, South Africa, and the West Indies will compete in Group B. The top two teams from each group will advance to the semi-finals, leading to the final showdown for the coveted trophy.
