“If not this time, wait till 2026 again. Who knows if I will be able to play till then, ”said Jahanara Alam, star of Bangladesh Women’s ODI team, a month ago. Jahanara’s comment was about whether Bangladesh will be able to qualify for the ODI World Cup.
Jahanara and Bangladesh women’s team did not have to wait till 2026. Bangladesh girls are going to take part in the 2022 ODI World Cup for the first time. As the World Cup qualifier in Zimbabwe was canceled due to the attack of Corona, the girls of Bangladesh got the tickets for the World Cup as they were ahead in the rankings.
Following the ICC press release yesterday, a video of the women’s team cheering spread on social media. While the relatively young cricketers of the team were cheering, tears of joy were flowing from the eyes of Salma Khatun and Rumana Ahmed. For a moment, perhaps, the stories of sacrifice, dedication and hard work of the last decade came to mind of these two pioneers of women’s cricket in Bangladesh. The one who was comforting the two was Jahanara Alam. He hugged them and kept saying, ‘Don’t cry! We did it. We all made it possible. ‘
Nigar Sultana, the captain of the team, is a cricketer of this generation. Emotions like those who have crossed the difficult path of women’s cricket may not have touched her very much. In a video message sent by the BCB yesterday, he said, “We have succeeded in the purpose for which we came. This success does not end here. This success of ours will take Bangladesh women’s cricket much further. The whole of Bangladesh was looking at us. We are going to play the World Cup with the continuity of victory. ‘
“We are really happy to be in the World Cup,” said Salma, who hopes to continue the series at the New Zealand World Cup in January. It is impossible to say how happy it is. I hope we will do well in the World Cup. ‘
The sweetness of the results of many days of effort can be seen in the words of Rumana, ‘It is the result of our many days of hard work. We are in the World Cup now. We can’t hold that emotion now. I can’t express happiness, excitement. Our whole team is very happy. I hope I can do well in the next World Cup. ‘
Women’s team coach Mahmudul Emon’s passion is different from the rest. A few days ago, she was given the responsibility of the women’s team from the post of Sylhet divisional coach. The BCB was forced to find a foreign coach and sent a local coach to Zimbabwe with the toughest assignment of a women’s team. In that Mahmudul’s coaching, the women’s team achieved another ‘first’. Yesterday he was saying, ‘This is the best day of my coaching career. We have succeeded in the plan we had in the last one year. Everyone was trying to get the girls cricket team in a good position. So that we can go to unique heights in the world. We were able to do that. ”
Bangladesh team is getting another award after overcoming this hurdle of qualifying and getting a place in the World Cup. Nigar Sultana’s team will soon be able to plan for a future tour of the ICC. As a result, the number of matches of women’s team will increase. The chances of playing regular matches with big women’s cricket teams like England, Australia, New Zealand will also increase
