How do the Tigresses stack up?
The Bangladesh women's cricket team were named in Group A for the upcoming ICC Women's T20 World Cup against hosts Australia, India, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. The tournament is scheduled to begin from February 21 and while teams are already practicing and playing warm up matches ahead of the big event, Cricket Australia (CA) has made some off-field preparations too. The board made profiles on the teams that the hosts will face in the group stages and here is how they analysed the Salma Khatun-led side:
2018 result: Fifth in Group A
Best finish: Group stage
The big question: How will Bangladesh fare in their first ever game against hosts and world No.1 side Australia? It's an interesting sidenote that the teams have never met before, having been placed in separate groups at each of the past three tournaments. Salma Khatun's side has come a long way in the past couple of years, however, defeating India twice in that period.
Player to watch: Wicketkeeper-batsman Nigar Sultana is only 22 years old but she is already her country's second most prolific scorer in T20Is, with 744 runs to her name. She scored a half-century against Pakistan last November and an unbeaten 29 against Sri Lanka earlier this year, while in December she struck her maiden international century -- albeit against a Maldives team playing its first international tournament, but it would nonetheless have been a confidence-boosting display.
The X-Factor: Left-arm spinner Nahida Akter starred for Bangladesh at the T20 World Cup qualifiers last year, taking 10 wickets at 6.6 to help her team secure their place at the main event. She is just 19 years old but has been playing international cricket for more than four years, having made her debut in September 2015. In 38 matches she's collected 49 wickets at 12.1, with the handy economy rate of 4.77.
Don't be surprised if: Bangladesh prove a stumbling block for one of the higher-ranked teams. Sri Lanka seem the obvious opponent given their poor run of form and Bangladesh will be desperate to prove themselves at this level given their improvement across the past few years. They have not registered a win at their past two tournaments, so this is a chance to break their drought.
The 2018 Asia Cup triumph in Malaysia is definitely a special one for us and we are carrying a lot of confidence from this success. Now we are a fairly experienced side and it's our fourth World Cup. Australia and New Zealand are new opponents for us but we watched them on television. We are preparing well …we have very good bowling and fielding units and the conditions are also good here. We have the ability to restrict our opponents below 120, which we have shown earlier.
Jahanara Alam
Bangladesh all-rounder
We have been practising together for so long. We are going to face new opponents. We came here with a goal this time because we didn't play well in the last World Cup. We have very good pace bowlers and we know we are going to get sporting wickets. Weather is not in our hands but we are prepared to face any challenge. We are not nervous as we are prepared well and have appeared a good unit.
Nigar Sultana
Bangladesh wicketkeeper
The overall numbers
Team record: Matches: 71 | Won: 27| Lost: 44 | Tied: 0 | NR: 0
Highest total: 152 for seven v Pakistan, Lahore 2019*
Lowest total (completed innings): 30 v Pakistan, Cox's Bazar 2018
*against a team competing in this World Cup
Fixtures
February 24 v India, WACA Ground, 10pm AEDT
February 27 v Australia, Manuka Oval, 7pm AEDT
February 29 v New Zealand, Junction Oval, 11am AEDT
March 2 v Sri Lanka, Junction Oval, 11am AEDT
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