Bangladesh Women skipper Nigar Joty Sultana wants her side to kickstart their campaign in the upcoming ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 on a winning note.
Bangladesh will feature in the opening game of the tournament against Scotland. The last time Bangladesh won a game at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup was in 2014 when they defeated Ireland in a ninth-place playoff match in Sylhet. Since then Bangladesh has been part of four more editions of the World Cup and has played 16 games without success.
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Joty has featured in all four editions for Bangladesh since 2014 and wants to reverse the trend under her captaincy in 2024.
“I have played four [T20] World Cups but we have never won a game. The last time we won was in the 2014 tournament. We have played well in previous editions but playing well only means something when you can win,” Joty told reporters at the pre-tournament press conference as quoted by the ICC.
Bangladesh have won all four of their encounters against Scotland in the T20I format thus far, and Joty has her sights set on the tournament opener.
“We want to win the first match. It will be a huge achievement for the team. Then the team will get into a rhythm. We can then dream of something bigger,” she added.
Moving on to the skillset, Joty spoke highly about her team’s spin-bowling department but acknowledged that their batting needed some work.
“Batting is definitely a concern, but we saw some improvements among the batters during the A team tour [of Sri Lanka]. We still believe that we can do well as most of our players have also done well in the domestic tournaments. I hope they continue their form in the World Cup,” Joty said.
Joty, who is just one game away from becoming the first Bangladesh player to feature in 100 Women’s T20Is, revealed that the team management had made gameplans for each side, and was confident of her side’s prospects.
“To play in the semifinal, we have to win against other teams also. We have different plans against each team. If we can execute our game plan, then it will better for us. We have defeated South Africa in T20Is. We rarely meet England, only in World Cups, so it might be difficult for them too,” the skipper said.
Bangladesh begin their World Cup campaign against Scotland on October 3rd in Sharjah, after which they face England on October 5th at the same venue. These matches will be followed by the Tigresses facing West Indies and South Africa on October 10th and 12th respectively. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the semis.
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(With inputs from ANI)
