Captains' Day: Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 kicks off in style

The ten captains have gathered to mark the opening of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024.

The tournament, which is being held in the United Arab Emirates, gets underway on Wednesday 3 October when host nation Bangladesh face Scotland at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.

And Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana led the way as the ten national skippers met in Dubai to mark the start of a tournament that will come to a conclusion in the same city on 20 October.

"We are pretty fortunate that we will do something that is going to help all the fans and the families and friends to get cheered," Sultana said.

"I'm expecting a lot of spectators, because in Sharjah there are a lot of Bangladeshis there. And playing in this kind of event, I think more people will come watch us and support."

This year, the ICC took a unique approach to the captains' photo by inviting each captain to individually showcase their excitement for the tournament set against the striking backdrop of the Dubai Frame, a symbol of the UAE's landscape.

The image was taken by Dubai-based Tina Patni, a well-known luxury fashion, beauty, and editorial photographer, recognized for her work with celebrities and has earned her international recognition for her unique style and expertise in the industry.

A special panel session featuring all 10 captains took place during the Captains' Day, hosted by Melanie Jones, which showed fans a glimpse into the life, strategies and aspirations of the captains, and during which all captains spoke.

Alyssa Healy represented her side Australia at the event, with the world's top-ranked side looking to make it four T20 World Cup titles on the bounce.

"There are 10 teams sitting on the stage here today that deserve to be here and have a real shot of winning this World Cup," Healy said. "You don't come here to defend a title, that's not what a World Cup is about, you come here to win it, so we're here with that approach and I'm excited to get underway.

"Our pool is quite a tricky one. We've got to get past a lot of these teams to be able to lift the trophy and it's a challenge we're excited for."

Australia won both of their warm-up games – against England and West Indies – but were pushed hard in the latter of those fixtures, and will know that they will need to be on their game in a Group A that contains some real quality in India, New Zealand, Pakistan and recent Asia Cup champions Sri Lanka.

Group A contenders India will hope that 2024 is their year to a win first ICC World Cup, having been runners up three times – in the 2020 T20 World Cup and the 2005 and 2017 50-over tournaments.

Harmanpreet Kaur's side come into this event ranked third in the world and have reached at least the semi-finals of the last three ICC Women's T20 World Cups.

Heather Knight's England are the top-ranked team in Group B, and she joined Sultana at the event in Dubai, where she spoke to fellow group rivals Hayley Matthews of West Indies, Laura Wolvaardt of South Africa and Kathryn Bryce of Scotland.

"I think captaincy is always a constant challenge," Knight said. "But I think as you're there more, you learn to get your messages across in slightly different ways using the people around you.

"I've got through a few coaches as well, so that kind of helps freshen things up. And obviously, the team's constantly evolving, which is a place where you're obviously keeping things fresh and finding different ways to say things."

The World Cup which will see 23 matches held over 18 days in the two host cities of Dubai and Sharjah.