Tigresses ready for Irish challenge

Bangladesh women’s team will focus more on going match by match rather than concentrating on direct qualification for the upcoming World Cup when they take on their Irish counterparts in the opening WODI of the three-match series at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur today.

The match is scheduled to start at 10:00 and will be broadcast live on T Sports.

Bangladesh will start the crucial series knowing that only a 3-0 result in their favor will keep them in the hunt for a direct World Cup qualification spot, but skipper Nigar Sultana Joty claims she does not want to think too far and wants to dominate their opponents in their own backyard.

“World Cup thoughts are still far away. We have to pay attention match by match. We have two bilateral series (now against Ireland and then West Indies). It is important to take points,” Joty told reporters at the pre-series press conference . in Mirpur yesterday.

The Tigresses have had a forgettable year so far, especially in the 50-over format, losing all their three matches. The hosts will be back in the format for the first time since a home series against Australia in March.

Bangladesh will look to end their misery against Ireland, with whom they have a 3-1 record in this format. Knowing that a majority of the opposition players have no experience of playing in Bangladesh, Joty expressed his confidence to do well in the series. However, she was concerned about their ‘continuous hitting errors’.

“Since we are going to play at our home ground, we will be stronger … We will try to dominate them. Ireland are placed below us. If we can’t play dominantly against them, how can we fight and keep an eye on against them. big teams?” Joty asked.

Ireland have beaten England in both WODIs and WT20Is in recent months, while they also defeated Sri Lanka 2-1 in the previous ODI series.

Although the Irish side does not have much experience playing in Bangladesh, skipper Gaby Lewis sounded confident of overcoming the hosts’ challenge.

“I think Bangladesh are a team that we’ve been really competitive with over the years and so we’re looking forward to meeting them again. It’s been a while since we’ve played them and we’ve had a great time confidence from the summer with our success against Sri Lanka, England and we are ready to dominate the series,” she said, adding that they are ready for the spin challenge in Bangladesh.

“I think it’s just about adapting. We obviously don’t know how the pitch is going to play, but we predict a good bit of spin and judging by their team, they like to play a spin-heavy XI. So that’s something we’ve focused on and we’ve worked really hard on our spin game and yes, we’re ready for tomorrow,” she concluded.