The forthcoming Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 has been shifted out of Bangladesh and will now be held in the UAE, the International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed on Tuesday.

The ICC maintained that travel advisories from the governments of a number of the participating teams meant hosting the World Cup in Bangladesh wasn’t feasible.

Over the past two months, Bangladesh has witnessed countrywide anti-government agitations that eventually ended when Sheikh Hasina, the Prime Minister, resigned and fled to India. An interim government has been put in place by the army since, but widespread incidents of vandalism and looting, as well as acts of violence, have been reported from the nation.

The Bangladesh government had made last-ditch efforts through the United Nations (UN) to host the Women’s T20 World Cup, but a number of countries, including Australia, India, New Zealand and the United Kingdom (England and Scotland) had issued travel advisories to their citizens to not travel to Bangladesh.

“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. Allardice also expressed his gratitude to the Emirates Cricket Board for stepping in to host the showpiece tournament.

“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 added.

Earlier this month, media reports indicated that India could emerge as one of the hosts for the Women’s T20 World Cup amid the ICC assessing Bangladesh’s conditions. However, last week, BCCI “categorically said no” to the ICC’s offer, leaving UAE and Sri Lanka as possible alternatives.