Dubai: The International Cricket Council declared on Tuesday that the October 2024 Women's T20 World Cup will now be held in the United Arab Emirates, not Bangladesh.
The move to a new location was made in response to the turmoil in Bangladesh that resulted in the removal of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who had to leave the nation at the beginning of the month following 15 years of iron-fisted governance.
In the weeks of demonstrations that preceded her removal on August 5, more than 450 people died, most of them from police fire. Muhammad Yunus, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, has since assumed leadership in an interim capacity, AFP reported.
"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," ICC chief executive Geoff Allardice said in a statement.
"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 10-team competition will take place from October 3–20 in two UAE locations -Dubai and Sharjah.
Six of the eight previous tournaments, including the last three, have been won by Australia.
The men's T20 World Cup was forced to be moved from India due to the Covid-19 outbreak, and the UAE and Oman stepped in to host it in 2021.