New Age | Bangladesh hopes to change bad form

Bangladesh women’s national team are in a tough spot this year, having lost all 11 international matches they have played in. They hope to change that at the upcoming 2024 Asia Cup in Sri Lanka.

The team held its final training in Dhaka on Monday and will depart for Sri Lanka today. The team will begin its campaign against the host nation of Dambulla on July 20.

Bangladesh will be hoping to secure their first win of the year in that match, having so far lost 3-0 to Australia in both the One-Day International and Twenty20 International Series this year, before a 5-0 defeat to India in the T20I Series.

Skipper Nigar Sultana Joty has relied on fond memories of winning the 2018 Asia Cup – Bangladesh’s only major all-gender trophy at senior level – to revitalise themselves ahead of the T20 World Cup, which Bangladesh will host later this year.

“The Asia Cup is an emotional event for women’s cricket in Bangladesh as winning it in 2018 was a big revolution. This is an opportunity for us to test ourselves for the World Cup,” Joty said at a press conference at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka on Monday.

“We haven’t done well in the last two series, we haven’t won a single match. Then we had a long break and played domestic tournaments. Those who did well there were picked. I saw that everyone in the camp performed well. We are looking forward to playing good cricket.”

While 2018 is a fond memory for Joty & co, the next edition in 2022 – held in Sylhet – is a bitter one as they were eliminated from the group stage.

The first goal this time is to reach the final four.

“We couldn’t reach the semi-finals of the last Asia Cup. So of course our first target is to reach the semi-finals. For that our first match is very important because we haven’t been doing well for a while,” said Joty.