Sports Desk:

Bangladesh women’s national team skipper Nigar Sultana Joty said on Monday that the return of their experienced campaigners Jahanara Alam and Rumana Ahmed will bolster their strength as they prepare for the forthcoming Women’s T20 Asia Cup 2024.

Bangladesh will depart today for Sri Lanka and will take on the hosts in their first game on 20 July while followed it up in the group stage by matches against Thailand and Malaysia respectively 22 and 24 July.

Bangladesh have been placed in the four-team Group B while Group A comprises of India, Pakistan, Nepal and UAE. The top two teams from each group will play in the semifinals on July 26 with the final slated on 28 July. All matches will be held in Dambulla.

However, ahead of the tournament, Jahanara and Rumana made a return to the squad after a long gap based on their performance in domestic cricket. “Experience is always valuable. Both of them (Jahanara and Rumana) played in the last two editions of Asia Cup and both Rumana Apu and Jahanara Apu returned after a long while,” Nigar told reporters during the pre-tournament press conference at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Monday.

“Both of them performed brilliantly in the domestic cricket. Both the experienced cricketers will have a big impact on the team. In the practice game, we have seen they are using their experience and this will be helpful for the team,” she said adding that they are eyeing for a spot in the semifinals as they failed to do so in the previous edition at home.

“In the last Asia Cup, we could not reach the semifinals and so naturally our first target is to reach the semifinals and for that our first-game against Sri Lanka in important because we are not playing good cricket for a long time. There are some individual performances but as a team we could not perform and to get the momentum we need to perform well against Sri Lanka,” she added.

“This is a big opportunity for us to see where we stand before the World Cup through this Asia Cup. We had two bad series as we could not win a single game. But there was a gap after that and we played domestic cricket and whoever performed there (in the domestic cricket) are in the squad. Everyone seemed to be in good rhythm in the last camp and we are keen to play good cricket,” she concluded.