CHENNAI: With the 2024 ICC Women's T20 World Cup shifting from Bangladesh to Dubai and Sharjah, former UAE captain Chaya Mughal believes this could work as a boost for women's cricket in the region. While not many participating nations have extensive experience of playing in these conditions, she hopes the marquee event gives the players an experience of a lifetime.
"Having this opportunity in my county is huge," Mughal told this daily. " It is a great boost for girls here who want to pursue cricket at the highest level. Weather conditions-wise, October is going to be better. Around 4 or 5 PM, it does get better. So expect the weather not to be too harsh in the month. It will be a different experience for players in these conditions surrounded by the desert. But I do hope this becomes one of the best experiences for all the players involved," she added.
Mughal highlighted that watching the top side compete for the trophy will provide a great experience for the young players from UAE. As an associate nation, the UAE hardly get an opportunity to compete against the top-ranked nations outside of Asia. She hopes players can make the most of this opportunity by observing the matches in person.
"It could be a learning curve for the national team. You don't just learn by playing, you can learn plenty by sitting outside and observing the game. They can look at what the best teams, the likes of Australia, India and England, are doing at the international level to be the best. Players can observe the minute details that they can miss out on while watching the game on TV."
With ICC's recent announcement regarding the 2026 edition of the WC, where 12 teams will participate for the first time, it will open the gate for teams other than full member nations. Mughal welcomed this decision. "This decision feels like these teams coming from associate nations belong at the highest level, they just need to play better cricket to get there.
They would have to go through a long qualification process to make it to the WC and once they get it, I know, the feeling for these players would be like, we have earned that place at the highest possible level. It is a great initiative from the ICC. Now, when they are practicing the whole year, they have this realistic aim: they can play in the WC," she signed off.