As the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced, the Women’s T20 World Cup has been moved from Bangladesh to the United Arab Emirates following violent protests in the planned host country.

Student-led anti-government demonstrations and ongoing social unrest led to the resignation of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her flight into self-imposed exile in India.

In view of the security concerns, the governing body ICC said that the T20 World Cup, which was scheduled to take place from October 3 to 20 this year, will instead be held at two venues in the UAE – Dubai and Sharjah – with the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) retaining the hosting rights.

“It is a shame that we cannot host the Women’s T20 World Cup in Bangladesh as we know the BCB would have put on a memorable event,” said ICC chief executive Geoff Allardice. “However, they retain the hosting rights and we look forward to bringing a global ICC event to Bangladesh in the near future.”

“I would like to thank the BCB team for exploring all options to hold the event in Bangladesh, however due to travel warnings from the governments of some of the participating teams, this was not feasible,” added Allardice.

England and debutants Scotland have both qualified for the ten-nation tournament and have been drawn into Group B. Their match was originally scheduled to be the last of the opening phase on October 14.

South Africa and the West Indies are also in Group B alongside nominal hosts Bangladesh. Group A includes defending champions Australia as well as India, New Zealand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.