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Naming one squad for two tournaments is either a sign of great confidence or a sign that there is no time to change your mind. In Bangladesh’s case it is probably both.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board has named a fifteen-member group that will play both the ACC Women’s Asia Cup in Dubai and the 20th Asian Games in Japan. Nigar Sultana Joty continues as captain, with the left-arm spinner Nahida Akter as her deputy.
The squad
Nigar Sultana Joty (captain), Nahida Akter (vice-captain), Dilara Akter, Juairiya Ferdous, Sharmin Akter Supta, Sarmin Sultana, Sobhana Mostary, Shorna Akter, Ritu Moni, Fahima Khatun, Rabeya Khan, Marufa Akter, Sultana Khatun, Shanjida Akther Meghla and Fariha Islam Trisna.
Nigar keeps the job on the back of a Women’s T20 World Cup campaign in England that produced wins over Pakistan and the Netherlands. Those are the two results the selectors have clearly built from, and several of the players who delivered them have been retained.
The recall that people are talking about
The most discussed name in the list is Sharmin Sultana, back in the setup for the first time since facing Sri Lanka in May.
The top-order batter has sixteen ODIs behind her and made her T20I debut earlier this year. Her return has come at the expense of Taj Nehar, who was part of the squad at the last World Cup, and the reasoning is not difficult to follow. Bangladesh’s top order has been the softest part of the side for some time, and Sharmin offers experience at exactly the point in the innings where the team has most often lost matches.
Sobhana Mostary and Juairiya Ferdous, both of whom gave Bangladesh promising starts at the World Cup, keep their places alongside her.
Where the wins came from last time
Shorna Akter is in the squad and her presence needs no justification. Her unbeaten knocks were the decisive contributions in both of Bangladesh’s World Cup victories, against the Netherlands and against Pakistan.
Ritu Moni adds all-round balance, and she doubles as a bowling option. The pace attack will be led by Marufa Akter with Ritu Moni and Fariha Islam Trisna in support, while the spin department is deep by any standard, with Nahida, Fahima Khatun, Rabeya Khan and Sultana Khatun all available.
That spin strength matters more than usual here. Every Asia Cup match is at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, on the same square, across seventeen days, and the surfaces will slow considerably as the tournament wears on.
The route through Group B
Bangladesh are in Group B with defending champions Sri Lanka, hosts UAE and tournament debutants Indonesia. Two sides advance.
- 31 August, Bangladesh vs Indonesia
- 6 September, Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka
- 8 September, Bangladesh vs UAE
Sri Lanka arrive as champions and will be expected to take one place. The realistic contest for the second is between Bangladesh and the hosts, which makes 8 September the fixture the entire campaign is likely to hinge on. Group A holds seven-time champions India, along with Pakistan, Thailand and Hong Kong China. The final is on 13 September.
An early and comprehensive win over Indonesia matters more than the opposition suggests. Net run rate settles four-team groups more often than anyone would like.
Japan, and a quarter-final already secured
The second half of this assignment is the more unusual one.
Bangladesh have qualified directly for the knockout stage of the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, granted that position as one of the region’s top ICC Full Member sides. They begin on 17 September in a quarter-final against China, with the tournament running to 22 September.
That is a remarkably short turnaround. The Asia Cup final is on 13 September, which leaves four days between the end of one tournament and the start of a knockout match in another country. Carrying momentum out of Dubai is not a nice-to-have for this group. It is the plan.
What comes next
There is a broader context to all of this that is worth stating plainly. The men’s side has just returned from Australia having won a Test in Darwin and climbed to sixth in the ICC Test rankings, the highest position Bangladesh has ever held. The BPL has been suspended for the year. Bangladeshi cricket is in an odd moment of real achievement alongside real administrative trouble.
The women’s team now has seventeen days in Dubai and then a straight knockout in Japan to add something of their own. A semi-final place in the Asia Cup would represent a good tournament. A medal in Aichi-Nagoya would be considerably more than that.
It starts against Indonesia on 31 August.
