Desk Report:
How is coach Sarwar Imran? This question was first asked to Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana Jyoti at the press conference. Sarwar is now completely fine despite a minor stroke. He was also seen in practice yesterday. Without that worry, the Bangladesh team will face Pakistan in their first match of the ODI World Cup at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo today. The match will start at 3:30 PM Bangladesh time.
The opponent is no stranger to Bangladesh. Three years ago, the first victory in the first World Cup came against Pakistan. This time Jyoti wants to start the tournament with a win. She knows very well that it will not come easily, ‘I think playing against Pakistan is a good thing for us. Because, we have been playing against each other for a long time, we know each other. We have also played in the qualifiers, and we have also played bilateral series. So there will be good competition.’
Batting has always been the name of the problem in Bangladesh women’s game. Jyoti is going into the World Cup with a promise to do well, ‘I have made a promise to myself, this is our opportunity, to show how much preparation has been done. Because, qualifying last time was very difficult; we don’t want to go down that path again. So if we want to do well and win, we have to score runs on the scoreboard.’
For that, emphasis has been placed on increasing the strike rate. According to Jyoti, ‘Some players take their time in the beginning, but later they can play at speed. But now cricket has progressed a lot, everything depends on runs. If you don’t score runs, you can’t survive in the game. So we have worked on strike rate. We have even brought in a few players who can rotate strikes and hit boundaries.’
Bangladesh has won seven of the 16 matches against Pakistan. Jyoti did not play any international matches in the World Cup qualifiers in April. He said that although there is a lack of match fitness, there is no lack of mentality, ‘We know that we have the potential to win the match. But trust is the most important thing.’
Pakistan captain Fatima Sana wants to bring back the memories of losing to Bangladesh in the qualifiers in the World Cup, ‘The conditions of Pakistan and Sri Lanka are almost the same. We played the World Cup qualifiers at home and our performance was very good. Hopefully, we can maintain that rhythm.’
