Third time is indeed the charm for Bangladesh women's cricket team as they will play the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup for the first time in New Zealand next year.

Since gaining ODI status in 2011, Bangladesh women's team, holders of the latest Asia Cup, failed to qualify in the 2013 and 2017 editions of the mega event but Nigar Sultana Joty's troops made it happen this time.

Alongside Bangladesh, Pakistan and the West Indies will progress to the upcoming World Cup in March-April next year by virtue of their rankings up until September 30 this year. And now the Tigresses are set to join hosts New Zealand, Australia, India, England and South Africa as the women's cricket World Cup qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe has been abandoned after the discovery of a new Covid-19 variant in South Africa.

Bangladesh team players and officials expressed their happiness after the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the cancelation of the qualifiers after Saturday's game between the West Indies and Sri Lanka had to be called off when a member of the Sri Lankan support staff tested positive for Covid-19.

"We are really happy and excited. It's our hard work that made it possible. We just got the news earlier than expected because of the abandonment of qualifiers. Personally, I am happier than anybody as I captained the team for the first time and got the good news. Now our target would be to continue good performance in the World Cup," said Joty.

Nazmul Abedin Fahim, a well-known name in Bangladesh cricket fraternity, said that: "We are going to play against the best of the bests. So, it's an opportunity and as well as a big challenge for us to make a statement on the world stage."

"We have to take the challenge with progressive planning because we are going to face a tough challenge against the quality sides. It will be a big boost for our women's cricket if we can perform well there," the veteran coach, who guided the women's team earlier, added.

"We must make sure that we play some quality cricket at home and get some international exposure before the mega event. I think we have a good ODI side, so we would just need some proper planning so that it creates a good sense of pride among our women athletes," Fahim concluded.