DUBAI: The Inter­national Cricket Council on Tuesday announced that this year’s ICC Women’s T20 World Cup is being moved out of Bangladesh which has been rocked by political unrest and violence during recent weeks.

According to a statement issued by the ICC, the ninth edition of the tournament will now take place in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in October with the Bang­ladesh Cricket Board (BCB) continuing to host the event.

The 10-nation event will take place across two venues in the UAE — Dubai and Sharjah — from Oct 3 to 20.

Bangladesh’s prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country earlier this month amid the protests against Hasina’s rule, and an interim government led by Muhammad Yunus has taken charge.

“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,” he added.

“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.”

The UAE, home to the ICC headquarters, has become a significant hub for cricket in recent years, hosting numerous qualifier tournaments as well as the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in 2021 alongside Oman.

Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2024