The Women's T20 World Cup set to take place later this year will now be hosted in the UAE following civil unrest in Bangladesh — the original host country.

The tournament, set to be held from 3-20 October, will still be hosted by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) however, it will take place in two venues in the UAE — Dubai and Sharjah.

Bangladesh’s former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, recently resigned and fled the country to India following student-led anti-government protests which caused civil unrest and security concerns for the tournament.

“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. However, they will retain hosting rights. We look forward to taking an ICC global event to Bangladesh in the near future," ICC Chief Executive Geoff Allardice said in a statement.

The White Ferns head into the tournament after a poor tour of England, where they lost all eight matches. Their group is not easy either as they will play India, Sri Lanka, Australia and Pakistan in the group stage of the competition.

In the most recent edition of the tournament held in South Africa, the White Ferns were knocked out in the group stage.