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Bangladesh secure World Cup ticket

Staff Correspondent
25 Sep 2022 00:00:00 | Update: 25 Sep 2022 02:23:51
Bangladesh secure World Cup ticket
Bangladesh batters Murshida Khatun (C) and Fargana Haque (R) speak while batting during their match against Thailand in Abu Dhabi on Friday – ICC Photo

Bangladesh women’s national team secured their place in the next year’s ICC T20 World Cup in South Africa after they beat Thailand by 11 runs in the semi-final match in Abu Dhabi on Friday.

Batting first, Bangladesh put on 113-5 on the board courtesy of contributions from Murshida Khatun (26), skipper Nigar Sultana Joty (17), Rumana Ahmed (28*), and Ritu Moni (17).

In their attempt to qualify for the World Cup, Bangladesh stifled the Thai women early on as they could only score 16 runs in the first eight overs, losing three wickets.

But from there, batter Natthakan Chantham tried her heart and soul to help Thailand qualify. She had brought them to needing 22 runs off the final over, but a shrewd Salma Khatun only gave away 10 to ensure an 11-run victory for Bangladesh.

Chantham, despite their World Cup hopes getting crushed, won the player of the match award for her innings of 64 runs from 51 balls, where she hit four fours and three sixes.

After the win, Bangladesh skipper Nigar said that after qualifying for the World Cup, it was time to showcase their improvement.

“We came here to qualify for the T20 World Cup, and we did it! We have been playing together for so many years, this is our time to show the world how good we are, how much we have improved as a side,” she said.

Nigar was a bit bothered about her side’s batting performance but said she believed in her team to pull through.

“There are a lot of experienced and talented players on our side, and we need to show the kind of potential we have. It was a little disappointing that we could not bat well today. But I was confident about my bowling side, and I am happy at the way we handled the pressure,” the Bangladesh captain said.

Bangladesh manager and selector, Manjurul Islam, said they did not want to play qualifiers anymore.

“We are happy to qualify for the World Cup because we deserved it. As a manager, what I want is to not play qualifiers anymore. The players want that too,” he said.

The same words were echoed by all-rounder Salma.

“Happy that we qualified for the World Cup, but we don’t want to play qualifiers for the next edition. We want to be among the top eight teams so that we don’t have to go through the trouble of playing qualifiers. We will try to do that in the World Cup,” she said.

The other team to qualify are Ireland, who beat Zimbabwe to book their place in South Africa. Bangladesh and Ireland will face each other in the final today.

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