The Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 was due to be held in Bangladesh from October 3 to 20. The decision was made as a part of the ICC’s efforts to expand women’s cricket globally and bring top-level cricket to new regions.
However, after the nationwide protests in Bangladesh which led to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s resignation and exit from the country, the tournament has been moved out of Bangladesh. Following the decision, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe offered to host the tournament but ICC decided to give the new hosting rights to UAE. The matches are scheduled to be played at Dubai and Sharjah.
“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.
“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” he added.
ICC also thanked Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe for making themselves available to host 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,” Allardice said.
Despite the uprising in Bangladesh, BCB tried to retain the hosting rights but countries like Australia, India, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom have issued travel advisories to their citizens, preventing them from visiting Bangladesh. The Bangla Tigers, however, will continue to be the official host of the event.
ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024: Format and Groups
A total of 10 teams will take part in ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in UAE. The teams have been divided in two groups (Group A & Group B) of five with each team playing 4 matches in the group stage. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the semi finals.
In the semi finals, the winner of Group A will face the runner up of Group B and the winner of Group B will face the runner up of Group A.
Group A: Australia, New Zealand, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan
Group B: Bangladesh, England, South Africa, West Indies, Scotland.
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Mohd Faisal Hakak is a sports author from Kashmir. He likes to keep tabs on the sporting world with a keen interest in football, motorsports, NBA, and other marquee sports. He is a science graduate from Islamia College Srinagar.
