ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Moved to United Arab Emirates

The International Cricket Council will move the Women’s T20 World Cup to the United Arab Emirates after turmoil in Bangladesh forced a change in venue.

The ninth edition of the Women’s T20 World Cup will now take place in Dubai and Sharjah for the 10-team tournament from October 3–20, the ICC said Tuesday. More than 300 people were killed in an uprising in Bangladesh that started in July. India had already turned down an offer from the ICC to replace Bangladesh as host.

“I would like to thank the team at the BCB (Bangladesh Cricket Board) 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,” said ICC Chief Executive Geoff Allardice. “However, they will retain hosting rights. We look forward to taking an ICC global event to Bangladesh in the near future.”

The UAE, home to the ICC headquarters, has hosted numerous cricket qualifier tournaments as well as the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in 2021 alongside Oman.

Allardice said it was “a shame not to be hosting the Women’s T20 World Cup in Bangladesh.” There was more than one replacement country that stepped up before the UAE was chosen.

“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,” Allardice said. “Wwe look forward to seeing ICC global events in both of those countries in 2026.”

The UAE already has the facilities and infrastructure necessary to stage the Women’s T20 World Cup. Cricket has seen recent growth in the country, as both its men’s and women’s teams are ranked 16th in the ICC T20I team rankings.