Home ›› 09 Sep 2022 ›› Sport
Bangladesh national women’s cricket team captain Nigar Sultana is not willing to take part in the qualification process of marquee ICC events anymore as she believes it’s time for direct entry.
Nigar and her team left for Abu Dhabi on Thursday afternoon, where they will take part in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup qualifiers. The eight-team tournament will begin on September 18 at the Zayed Cricket Stadium. The top two teams will qualify for the main event in South Africa in February 2023.
Bangladesh women’s played in the ICC T20 World Cup 2014 as the hosts. For the next editions, the women in red and green had to go through the qualification phase, in which they excelled. Bangladesh women’s team lost to Ireland in the final of the 2015 qualifiers (main edition 2016) but qualified as one of the top two teams.
In the next two qualifying rounds, 2018 and 2019 Bangladesh were the champions and eased their way into the main draw. Bangladesh are considered a favourite this time too due to their past record in this tournament, but Nigar feels the team should move to the next level.
“We are not interested to play in the qualifying rounds anymore. It is hectic, there is always a do-or-die situation, which is pressurising. Now we have earned a spot in the ICC Women’s FTP, where we will be playing T20Is along with ODIs. In those series, one of the objectives will be earning a direct qualifying spot in the T20 World Cup in the coming days,” Nigar told the reporters at SBNCS on Thursday.
Like their male counterparts, T20I is not the strongest suit of the women’s team, and due to the Covid-19 situation and travel restrictions, they got very little opportunity to play against international teams. But the team manager and selector, Manjurul Islam, thinks that the women’s NCL covered the gap,
“For the upcoming women’s Asia Cup and this WT20 WC, we have shifted the NCL to Sylhet. The tournament was very competitive. We also had a camp there after the tournament,” said the former left-arm seamer.
Nigar told the media that her team’s bowling side is the strongest and if the batters can provide a decent total, the chances of winning will be higher.
“We have never played in UAE. What we have learned is that the wickets will be sporting. On such surfaces, if we can put over 140 runs on the scoreboard, the opposition will struggle to chase it against our bowling. Bowling first, if our bowlers can restrict them to 120-130, it will be easier for us to chase it down,” said the wicket-keeper batter.
Adapting to the hot and humid conditions of Abu Dhabi will be the key, Nigar said, but at the same time, it will be more difficult for Ireland to adjust after coming from chilling weather. Ireland is in the same group as Bangladesh and both sides will lock horns on September 18. The other teams in this group are Scotland and USA.
