Sports Desk:

An unwanted, 16-match and decade-long losing streak in T20 World Cups finally came to an end for Bangladesh. They kicked off their ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 with a 16-run victory against Scotland at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Thursday.

‘We have waited for this win for a long time’Bangladesh skipper Nigar Sultana said she and her team have waited so long for this win and it means a lot to everyone in the team.

“A win after 10 years, we all are so emotional. We have waited for this win for a long time,” Nigar said in the post-match press conference on Thursday.

“It means a lot (winning after 10 years). I never got to win a World Cup match, now we got the win and it gives us the momentum we always wanted. Whenever we play well in the World Cup, we definitely make a great impact in the women’s cricket in Bangladesh. So, definitely it means a lot to us,” she added.

Nigar mentioned this win was a big confidence booster for her side and will give them the much-needed momentum going forward in the tournament.

“The girls really needed this win for confidence because we have been playing good cricket for a while but a win in the World Cup boosts your confidence so much. We didn’t have that before, but we have it now. Everyone has started believing that if we play good cricket as a team, we can do well against any team,” she said.

“It’s always important when you play your first game in a tournament because you always get the momentum that you want to carry through the tournament.”

Nigar said they will take each match as they come, and now their focus shifts to the England match on Saturday. Despite the win, Nigar said they still have a lot to improve, including herself as she missed two chances on the field.

“We still want to go match to match, now we are going to plan against England how we attack them or how we should play against them. So right now we are focusing on what to do against England and execute our game plan,” she said.

“Seeing this game, I think we need to work on our fielding. We put down a lot of chances and obviously I missed two chances so I need to work on that. We take all positives from this game and implement them in the next game,” Bangladesh captain added.

Thursday’s match was Nigar’s 100th T20I. She became the first Bangladeshi to reach the milestone and the win only made it more special for her and the team.

“Feeling good (winning on 100th T20I). I always wanted to do something different for the team on such a milestone day. Though I couldn’t perform that well, this was a big win for Bangladesh and that too after a long time. I’m so happy that Bangladesh could create a special memory on my special day,” a happy Nigar said.

Apart from Nigar, Nahida Akter also reached a milestone becoming the first-ever Bangladeshi to take 100 wickets in Women’s T20Is. She became the 14th bowler overall to reach the milestone.