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Bangladesh women’s national cricket team have qualified for the ICC Women’s World Cup in New Zealand next year after the qualifiers at Zimbabwe were called off on Saturday.
International Cricket Council mentioned that it was because of the outbreak of a new Covid-19 variant in southern Africa.
“The International Cricket Council today announced that the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2021 in Harare has been called off due to the introduction of travel restrictions from a number of African countries, including the host country Zimbabwe, following the breakout of a new Covid-19 variant in southern Africa,” an ICC press release said.
Bangladesh women’s national team in-charge Towhid Mahmood told The Business Post that as Bangladesh were ranked eighth on September 30, and the tournament was called off because of Covid-19, Bangladesh qualified for the World Cup automatically.
“We were eighth in the ODI rankings on September 30. According to the rules, if the tournament was called off for Covid-19, then the three highest-ranked teams would qualify. As we were eighth, we qualified,” he said.
“The qualifiers will now be decided according to the team rankings as detailed in the tournament playing conditions. Therefore, Bangladesh, Pakistan and the West Indies will now progress to the event in New Zealand,” the ICC press release read.
Bangladesh skipper Nigar Sultana Joty said that it was a proud moment for the team, and she was very happy because this was her first bout as captain of the national side.
“We fulfilled the dream we came here to fulfil. Maybe it would have been done later, but it has happened now, and that makes us feel even happier. We have qualified as the fifth-ranked team in the world. This is the result of our hard work. I am even happier because this is the first time I am captaining the side. This is a very proud moment for the team,” Bangladesh skipper Joty said.
Bangladesh all-rounder Salma Khatun said she could not express her happiness in words.
“We are very happy to qualify for the World Cup. I can not express it in words. We achieved our dream together, and hopefully, we will do well in the World Cup,” Salma said.
The World Cup in New Zealand will start on March 4 next year and end on April 3.
Bangladesh also qualified for the third cycle of the ICC Women’s Championship (from 2022-2025).
Bangladesh got another good news on Saturday as they jumped up to fifth in the Women’s ICC rankings, courtesy of their win against Pakistan in the ICC Women’s World Cup qualifiers.
