ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024 moved out of Bangladesh; new host confirmed

With just more than a month remaining, the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024 has finally moved out of Bangladesh. The International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed that the tournament will now be held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The ninth edition of the tournament will be held in two venues across the UAE - Dubai and Sharjah. The opening match of the tournament will be played on October 3 while the final will be played on October 20.

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ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024 moved to UAE; Bangladesh will continue to be the hosts

The move by the International Cricket Council was expected as Bangladesh is going through political turmoil which saw Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina leave the country to save her life. Since then, an interim government has running the country but the acts of vandalism and violence haven't stopped.

While the tournament has been moved to UAE, Bangladesh will continue to be the host. ICC Chief Executive Geoff Allardice thanked the BCB for their support and expressed his disappointment with the decision.

“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,” Geoff Allardice stated.

“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," the statement further added.

Geoff Allardice thanks the Emirates Cricket Board

Geoff Allardice also thanked the Emirates Cricket Board for agreeing to host the tournament in such a short notice. He also thanked Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe for their interest in hosting the event.

“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,” he said.

The UAE has become a hub for cricketing events in the last few years. The country has world-class facilities and infrastructure and has always acted as an alternative venue in case any problem arises for the ICC.

India rejected ICC's offer to host the tournament

The country has hosted a no. of ICC qualifying tournaments in the past and has a proven record of being a good host of mega-events. UAE also hosted the ICC T20 World Cup 2021, alongside Oman after the tournament was moved out of India due to the rising Covid-19 concerns in the country.

It is also believed that India were offered to host the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024 but the BCCI's secretary Jay Shah rejected the offer. After India's refusal, UAE seemed to be a safer option to host the tournament and the ICC went ahead with it.