Bangladesh aim for direct qualification in Women’s World Cup

Bangladesh women's cricket team faces a challenging road to secure direct qualification in the Women's ODI World Cup which will be held in India next year. To achieve this, Bangladesh must win all six of their remaining matches in the ICC Women's ODI Super League.

These include three home matches against Ireland and three away matches against the West Indies.

The equation is clear to the Bangladesh team, but their immediate focus is on the upcoming series against Ireland.

Habibul Bashar, the head of BCB’s Women’s Wing, emphasised this during a press conference today, where the title sponsor for the Bangladesh-Ireland series was announced. The series will be sponsored by Senora, powered by Ruchi. The announcement was made at a press conference held in the media center of Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla Stadium on Wednesday.

Responding to journalists, Habibul said, "We have six matches before the World Cup - three against Ireland and three more against the West Indies. These matches are crucial for us. Since we are starting at home, we have an advantage here. However, we are not thinking about all six matches yet; our focus is solely on this series. This is our primary target."

"We have been preparing for this series for quite some time. The girls have been practising since the 1st of this month. They have been playing consistently, including the World Cup, though there was a brief gap afterward. Now they are back in training, and we’ve made significant progress during this time. Let’s see how we perform on the field," he added.

As the opportunity to directly qualify for the World Cup looms, Nigar Sultana's team may face some nerves against the Irish women. Habibul, a former captain, acknowledged this but also highlighted the excitement within the team about achieving this milestone.

"There will be some nerves, as there’s pressure on them to perform, which is natural. So far, they seem very determined. Everyone wants to do well because playing in the World Cup is a shared dream. Since we’re playing at home, we’re hopeful for positive results," he concluded.