Amid unrest situation in Bangladesh, Australia women’s team captain Alyssa Healy claims that playing T20 World Cup 2024 in Bangladesh ‘would be the wrong thing to do’.
The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 was scheduled to be played in Bangladesh from October 3 to 20 but owing to the political collapse in the Asian nation, the future of the tournament is yet to be decided by ICC.
With just a few weeks for the tournament, ICC has not yet made any announcements regarding the change in host. Earlier, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) confirmed that two venues, Dhaka and Sylhet would host the matches but owing to growing political turmoil in Bangladesh, the tournament was expected to move out of the nation.
An earlier report stated that the no. 1 richest cricket board BCCI refused ICC’s offer to Host Women’s T20 World Cup. With ICC looking for alternatives to host the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024, UAE and Zimbabwe have emerged as contenders to host the tournament.
Apart from the undecided future regarding the host, Australian women’s captain Alyssa Healy said “It might be the wrong thing to play World Cup in Bangladesh”.
“I’d find it hard to fathom playing there [in Bangladesh] at the moment, as a human being, I feel like it might be the wrong thing to do. (That would be) taking resources away from a country that is really struggling.
They’re needing everyone they can possibly get in there helping people that are dying. There are obviously bigger factors at play than putting a cricket tournament on in Bangladesh at the moment … but I’ll leave it to the ICC to work out,” Healy said.
Australia Women’s cricket team maintains an impressive record on Bangladesh soil. Australia toured Bangladesh in March-April this year and came away with a clinical 3-0 series victory in T20I.
Speaking of the past data, Healy believes slow and turning pitches in Bangladesh might put them in a good position in the global event in case the venues remain unchanged.
“Going there and getting used to those conditions and slow turning wickets has probably put us in a good place. It’s more about what our team looks like, and what people are working on individually headed into a World Cup on the subcontinent.
Whether it is in Bangladesh, or it’s not in Bangladesh, I don’t think affects us greatly with the make-up of what we’ve got. We’re well prepared for whatever is thrown at us,” Healy added.
As per the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 schedule, defending Champions Australia will play their first match of the tournament against Sri Lanka on 4 October.
