Photo Credit: ICC
Bangladesh come up against familiar rivals Pakistan on Monday and captain Nigar Sultana hopes their past experiences can help them earn a maiden ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup win.
Both sides are yet to pick up points in the 2022 tournament, with Bangladesh making their debut at a women’s one-day World Cup this year.
The Tigresses have beaten Pakistan more than any other team, triumphing five out of the 11 times the two sides have met.
Nigar said: “We know them very well because we have played each other many times, so we have a good idea against them. And I think we have a good chance to make our first win in the World Cup.
“I think the way the girls played the last two matches, I think it was brilliant. The result may not have gone our way but I think we are improving and we could see that in the last two matches.
“You could see how our bowlers bowled against South Africa, it was brilliant. And I think the way the batters batted against New Zealand, it was superb.
“So I think if we could play in the same way, we could implement our batting and bowling plan together – so maybe I think it will be a great match.”
Bangladesh opened their World Cup with two losses in Dunedin, firstly unable to capitalise on bowling South Africa out for 207 in a 32-run defeat, before losing a rain-affected match to hosts New Zealand.
They have now swapped the south island for the sunny surroundings of Seddon Park in Hamilton but Nigar will be treating the game the same, as well as having a fully fit squad to call upon.
She said: “Everyone is super fit and looking forward to playing against Pakistan.
“I think [it will be] more or less the same because we played in Nelson and played in Dunedin and it was more or less same, even though we watched some matches over there, so I think that it is going to be a good pitch.
“We had a good preparation here, and we had some good rest and so players are prepared for the next match.”
With both sides yet to taste victory and no matches ending in ties, one of Pakistan and Bangladesh will put points on the board, even if it comes in a super over.
For Pakistan, they faced rivals India in their opener and succumbed to a 107-run defeat after bewitching India’s top order.
They were then comfortably beaten by Australia before South Africa came out on top in a nervy meeting in Tauranga.
The action begins at 11am local time and, by the end, either Bangladesh will have their first-ever win at an ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup or Pakistan will have snapped their 17-match losing streak at the tournament.
