As the Bangladesh women prepare themselves for the 2018 World T20I Qualifiers, scheduled to be hosted by the Netherlands, T20I captain Salma Khatun is drawing confidence from their recent title success at the Asia Cup.
The Tigresses will be one of the favourites in the eight-team Qualifiers, set to start Saturday. The top two teams of the week-long competition will get the right to play in the World T20I, slated for later this year in the West Indies.
Bangladesh, who finished second in the 2015 Qualifiers behind Ireland, have been drawn in Group A alongside host Netherlands, Papua New Guinea and the UAE. The tournament will be held at the VRA Cricket Ground in Amstelveen and Kampong Cricket Club in Utrecht.
BCB President Nazmul Hassan, MP hosted a dinner for the Bangladesh Women’s Cricket Team in Dublin, Ireland on 30 June, 2018. The Bangladesh team recently won Women’s Asia Cup and have already secured a T20I series against Ireland. pic.twitter.com/nd2rVHPnkj
— Bangladesh Cricket (@BCBtigers) July 1, 2018
The Tigresses, who recently clinched the Asia Cup, will begin their campaign against Uganda on the opening day of the tournament, followed by games against the home side and the UAE Sunday and Tuesday respectively. Bangladesh will depend heavily on Salma, along with batters Fargana Haque, Shamima Sultana and Nigar Sultana.
“Our victory in the Asia Cup has given us a lot of confidence and we want to be at our best in the World T20I Qualifiers. Beating India twice is no mean achievement and we feel everyone now realises our potential. That said, we have to begin well and can’t take any team lightly, even in the league stage,” Salma was quoted as saying in an ICC press release circulated Wednesday.
Bangladesh will be confident heading to the Qualifiers after beating Ireland 2-1 in a three-match T20I series last week.
“Playing in Ireland before the tournament was good preparation for us and we are aiming to emerge victorious in this tournament,” said Salma, who is the country’s leading wicket-taker in the shortest format of the game.
