Tigresses off to Ireland

With the bar set higher than ever for the Bangladesh national women's team, Salma Khatun and her troops flew off to Ireland yesterday night to participate in a three-match T20I series against the hosts ahead of their ICC Women's World T20 qualifier campaign in the Netherlands.

Bangladesh are surely beaming with confidence after their triumph in the Asia Cup T20 earlier this month and will hope to use that edge to secure a place in the ICC Women's World T20 tournament in West Indies in November.

Bangladesh will play three T20I's against Ireland on June 28, 29 and July 1 respectively before they depart for the Netherlands on July 3.

Prior to their departure for Ireland yesterday, skipper Salma said that she is hopeful about qualifying for the game's flagship event while adding that becoming the champions of Asia bolstered the team's confidence.

"Obviously we are hopeful to qualify for the World T20 but we have to perform well there. We had a very good tournament in Malaysia [Asia Cup] and later we underwent a training camp for 4 to 5 days. We worked on our lackings and improved as well and when we reach the Netherlands from Ireland we will get an idea about the condition and pitch. It will take some time to adjust to the weather but I am hopeful we will do well," Salma told the media at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday. 

The all-rounder also added that they are not going to take any opponent lightly and will always give their best.

In the qualifier campaign, Bangladesh will take on Scotland in an official warm-up game on July 4 before they face Papua New Guinea on July 7 in Amstelveen, a province in the Netherlands.

The Tigresses will then take on the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates in the following two group games on July 8 and 10 respectively.

Meanwhile, the Tigresses' ODI captain Rumana Ahmed informed that since perspectives on women's cricket in Bangladesh have changed, there is an onus on them to do better in the upcoming days.