Today's Edition
Kuumar Shyam (Abu Dhabi)
Dubai and Sharjah have been confirmed to host the women's T20 World Cup after the world governing body, the International Cricket Council, moved in to pick UAE as a replacement option instead of Bangladesh as the original rights holder.
Bangladesh is under a civil upheaval with a regime change after incumbent Prime Minister Shaikh Hasina was forced to leave the country and a new government is being put in place.
Bangladesh had been chosen much in advance to host the tournament from October 3 to 20. With the event less than 50 days away, the ICC has been scrambling to come to a conclusion.
Officials of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) sought five days' time, which ended on Tuesday, during which they were in contact with the military officials, who are in charge of the transition phase while a new government gets installed, to get some clarity on security assurances.
Aletihad learns that the decision was made after the early part of Tuesday was spent on online meetings across all stakeholders. At least four nations to participate in the tournament – Australia, UK, India and New Zealand – have issued travel advisories against attending the tournament.
India, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka were also approached as options to be on standby, considering factors such as climate and time zones in mind. The ICC Chief Executive Geoff Allardice said in a statement: "It is a shame not to be hosting the Women's T20 World Cup in Bangladesh as we know the BCB would have staged a memorable event.
"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.
"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."
Earlier, Zimbabwe had confirmed their keen interest, too, but the Indian cricket board (BCCI) on Monday ruled itself out of taking any initiative on this.
"They [ICC] have asked us if we would conduct the World Cup. I have categorically said "no". We're in the monsoon and on top of that we will host the women's ODI World Cup next year. I don't want to give any kind of signals that I want to hold consecutive World Cups," BCCI's Jay Shah told The Times of India on Monday. Monsoon is a factor that goes against Sri Lanka as well.
While October is not still completely ideal, the UAE's world-class stadiums in three Emirates – Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah – were enough to convince any fence-sitter while being not far away in terms of time zones.
Last week, Asif Mahmud, the youth and sports adviser to Bangladesh's interim government, stated that they would engage with the United Nations to protest the travel restrictions imposed by certain countries against travelling to Bangladesh.
