This year’s Women’s T20 World Cup has been moved to the United Arab Emirates amid violent protests in Bangladesh.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the change after many participating countries issued travel advisories for Bangladesh because of the recent violent protests.

ICC chief executive Geoff Allardice expressed his disappointment with needing to move the tournament, but thanked the Bangladesh Cricket Board for their efforts.

“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,” he said.

“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.”

Australian captain, Alyssa Healy, said on Monday how uncomfortable she was with playing in Bangladesh.

“I find it really hard to see a cricket event going on over there at the moment and taking resources away from a country that is really struggling,” she said.

“I’d find it hard to fathom playing there at the moment, as a human being, I feel like it might be the wrong thing to do.”

The competition will now take place in Dubai and Sharjah from 3-20 October with updated venues to be announced in the coming days. The BCB still retains hosting rights for the event.

Student-led protests in Bangladesh turned deadly earlier this month with nearly 650 casualties, according to the United Nations. The upheaval led to the resignation of Prime Minister Sheik Hasina, who then fled the country.

Photo: 2020 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup champions by Storm machine is available HERE and is used under a Creative Commons Licence. This image has not been modified.