Do or die for Tigresses
For the Salma Khatun-led Bangladesh women's T20I side, it will be a must-win game when they take on their New Zealand counterparts in the ICC Women's T20 World Cup at the Junction Oval in Melbourne today. It will also be the first T20I match between the two sides.
The Tigresses are yet to secure a victory in the mega event. And even if they manage to get the better of New Zealand today, Bangladesh's qualification to the semifinal will still depend on factors beyond their control.
After losing their tournament opener to India by 18 runs, the Tigresses suffered an 86-run thumping -- their largest ever defeat in T20Is -- at the hands of defending champions Australia on Thursday. The heavy defeat to Australia also saw the Tigresses languishing at the bottom of the points table with a net run rate of -2.6.
Due to such a blow to the net run rate, Bangladesh will need to secure a big-margin win in today's game and also in their final group stage match against Sri Lanka on March 2 to keep their slim hope of going through to the semifinal alive.
Even if the Tigresses achieve the unlikely feats, they will have to depend on the results of other matches to become the second team after India from Group A to qualify for the semifinal. For Bangladesh to qualify, New Zealand would need to win their final group stage match against Australia, which would bring the net run-rate into the equation Bangladesh, Australia and New Zealand's would each have four points.
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