What to expect from UAE conditions for the 2024 Women's T20 World Cup?
The 2024 Women's T20 World Cup in October has been shifted from Bangladesh to the UAE, along expected lines. The International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed the change in venue on August 20.
Bangladesh has been going through political unrest since July, leading to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's resignation and an interim government being put in place. The uncomfortable reports of violence in Bangladesh caused trepidation among several participating teams, leading to the decision by the ICC.
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 Bangladesh Cricket Board (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."
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."
Coming to the cricketing side of things, the UAE is no stranger to hosting major events, especially on the men's side. The 2024 Women's T20 World Cup qualifiers were played in Abu Dhabi in May this year, evidence of UAE's ability to successfully host major multi-national tournaments.
However, the main event of the 2024 Women's T20 World Cup featuring 10 participating teams will be played in Sharjah and Dubai from October 3 to 20.
On that note, here is a look at what fans can expect from the UAE conditions in the 2024 T20 World Cup.
What can we expect from the Sharjah and Dubai conditions?
![Dubai could play host to several key matches in the 2024 Women's T20 World Cup [Credit: Getty]](https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2024/08/3cd28-17242358047700-1920.jpg?w=500)
Considering the tournament in discussion is a Women's T20 World Cup, it would be worthwhile looking at the Women's 20-over format games played in Sharjah and Dubai.
Starting with Dubai, the city has hosted five T20Is in its history, with the UAE Women taking on the Namibia Women in a five-match series. While it is hard to gauge much in a match-up between two lower-ranked teams, the scores made for interesting reading.
Only one of the five games saw the team batting first record a score of over 100 with the other score being a lowly 110/5 in 20 overs. There wasn't a huge discrepancy between batting first or chasing, with the split between the former and latter being 2:3.
Yet, the matches won by defending were by slim margins of 19 and seven runs, while the three wins through run-chases were convincing. It could make chasing the better option in Dubai in the upcoming Women's T20 World Cup.
The sample space is much bigger and better for Women's T20I games in Sharjah, with Pakistan Women playing three bilateral T20I series at the venue.
While all the matches were played between 2015 and 2017, there is very little to choose between batting first and chasing. Despite three out of the last four T20Is won by the team batting first, overall the record is 5-5 in terms of batting first and chasing.
Score ranges were slightly higher than in Dubai with the team batting first scoring over 100 more often than not with the odd 140-160 totals. Yet, bowlers should have enough to impact the game in the UAE if historical data is looked at despite the shorter boundaries in Sharjah.
What happened when the UAE last hosted a major ICC event?
While the UAE has hosted several qualifier events, their last time playing home to a major ICC event came in the 2021 Men's T20 World Cup. Due to the COVID-19 forcing the tournament out of India, the action shifted to the UAE and Oman.
Abu Dhabi (UAE) and Al Amerat (Oman) hosted the Group A and B games featuring the lower-ranked teams bidding for the Super 12 qualification. The Super 12s were played in the three UAE venues - Dubai, Sharjah, and Abu Dhabi.
Abu Dhabi saw predominantly lower-scoring games with only three 180+ scores by the team batting first in 15 fixtures. The first semi-final between England and New Zealand produced an evenly contested battle between bat and ball at the venue.
After England scored a competitive 166/4 in 20 overs, the Kiwis chased it down with an over to spare in a thrilling finish.
Meanwhile, Sharjah hosted 11 2021 T20 World Cup games and saw an even mixture of high and low totals. While there were only three 180+ totals by teams batting first, only three scores below 140 were also posted.
Finally, Dubai was the host for the crucial second semi-final and the grand finale of the tournament. Overall, the ground saw 13 matches played with the first eleven matches witnessing only one score of even above 160 batting first.
Yet, the semi-final and final had four scores of over 170 with Pakistan and New Zealand posting the same batting first and Australia completing the run-chase on both occasions to be crowned T20 champions.