Agency :
England Women’s Cricket team Captain Heather Knight expressed her disappointment that the Bangladesh women’s team will not be able to play the Women’s T20 World Cup on home soil.
She believes that the crowd turnout would have been significantly higher if the World Cup had been held in Bangladesh.
England has been preparing for 18 months thinking that the World Cup will be held in Bangladesh but Knight is in favor of such a decision by the ICC.
She expressed her sympathy for Bangladesh during the lunch break on the first day of the Lord’s Test between England and Sri Lanka, “Of course, it is sad for the Bangladesh team, they will not be able to play the World Cup on their own soil. But I think this is probably the right decision. The conditions will be slightly different, but not by much.”
Following the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government amid student-led protests and the resulting political changes, the ICC decided to relocate the T20 World Cup from Bangladesh to the UAE.
It was reported that travel restrictions imposed by countries like Australia and England on their citizens visiting Bangladesh prompted this decision.
“It’s going to be something different. There would have certainly been a lot more spectators in Bangladesh.
I experienced it firsthand when we played there in 2014. There were large crowds at our matches, especially in Sylhet. It became almost a tradition to have so many people around. We’ll talk about it, but it’s a World Cup, and it doesn’t take much to get excited about that.” Knight said.
The World Cup was originally scheduled to be held at two venues in Bangladesh-Sylhet and Mirpur. However, it will now take place in Sharjah and Dubai. The Sharjah Stadium has a capacity of 16,000, while Dubai can accommodate 25,000 spectators
“Some people are thrilled by the loudness of the audience. As a result, we have to prepare for what is going to come in front of us. I don’t think there will be much visitors all of a sudden. But there is nothing to be done about it. Of course things like safety is very important,”