Nigar excited to play World Cup at home

Bangladesh women's cricket team captain Nigar Sultana Joty is very excited about playing in the World Cup at home as the International Cricket Council nominated Bangladesh as host for the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024.

In a media release on Wednesday, ICC named the hosts for the global events of Women's cricket until 2027.

" The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 will be hosted by Bangladesh for the second time, with the 2026 edition going to England for the first time since 2009. India will stage the next ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in 2025 and Sri Lanka will host the ICC Women's T20 Champions Trophy in 2027 subject to them qualifying for the event.

The hosts were selected via a competitive bidding process overseen by a Board sub-committee chaired by Martin Snedden along with Clare Connor, Sourav Ganguly, and Ricky Skerritt ", said the statement from the ICC.

Bangladesh will be hosting the Women's T20 World Cup for the second time, earlier Bangladesh hosted the event in 2014 along with Men's T20 World Cup. Through that tournament, Bangladesh first got the chance to play in this event as hosts and so far Bangladesh have participated in four T20 World Cups and failed to move beyond the first round.

Chief Executive Officer of the Bangladesh Cricket Board, Nizam Uddin Chowdhury said that this would be a watershed moment for women's cricket in Bangladesh,

"Getting the hosting rights for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 is fantastic news for Bangladesh cricket. On behalf of the BCB, I take this opportunity to thank the ICC Board for awarding this major women’s event to Bangladesh during a time when the women’s game is flourishing and expanding", he said in the media release.

"Especially, this will be a watershed moment for women's cricket in Bangladesh as the event will inspire little girls and aspiring female cricketers to dream big. Our women have made steady strides in international cricket and this world event at home will be an ideal opportunity to show that we can compete against the best. Bangladesh has a rich tradition of hosting high-profile ICC events and I have no doubts that we will deliver a world-class tournament in 2024”, he added.

Bangladesh Women's team captain Nigar also said that playing the World Cup at home will be a big boost for women's cricket,

" I am very much excited after hearing the news because not everyone is lucky enough to play in a World Cup at home. Don't know what's coming up next but if I stay alive and able to play cricket then it will be a big moment in my life. In big events the home team gets the support from the crowd which boosts the team very much", Nigar told the media at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium where the selected women cricketers are undergoing a fitness training camp.

Bangladesh was supposed to hold the Women's U-19 World Cup but that moved to South Africa, Nigar is happy that Bangladesh got the chance to host another marquee event in a few years,

" When the ICC was distributing global events, the intention was to promote the game as much as possible. As it will be only the women's World Cup, the focus will be more on women cricketers and on Bangladesh. The whole world will be watching", said Nigar on Wednesday.

But the Bangladesh women's team captain is not getting carried away by the event which will take place two years later, she is more concerned about the ground reality,

" Before the 2024 edition, we have one more World Cup in 2023 where we must qualify to take part. We have a long time for 2024, but if we don't crack the qualification round for the 2023 T20 World Cup, we will not be able to play in that tournament", said the wicket-keeper batsman.

" I think it's better to go step-by-step. For the next T20 World Cup, we will get the opportunity to play a number of Twenty20 International matches. In the coming days, we have bilateral series where there will be at least three T20I matches. This way we will prepare ourselves", said Nigar.