On Sunday, the Bangladesh women’s cricket team added another victory to their season, defeating South Africa in the opening Twenty20 of a three-match series at Benoni.
But skipper Nigar Sultana, who led the team to white-ball series victory at home against Pakistan, a bronze medal in the Asian Games, and a drawn ODI series against India earlier this year, is far from pleased with her team and is continuously looking for ways to improve.
“We need to improve in the upcoming games.” We haven’t played particularly well in this game. We have made numerous errors. “We need to fix those mistakes before we can get better,” the captain stated during the post-game press conference on Sunday.
The wicketkeeper-batter was particularly dissatisfied with the quantity of dot balls her side used during batting, which prevented them from putting up a higher total.
“We lacked in some areas — we batted with around 40 (55) dots.” We need to eliminate that, and the bowlers need to make fewer errors and express themselves more effectively,” Nigar added.
Bangladesh’s skipper batted brilliantly and led the team admirably. She hit an undefeated 21-ball 34 with the bat, helping the team set a 150-run target. She also handled her bowling options brilliantly after pacer Marufa Akter was injured and could only bowl two overs. Her bet on 16-year-old Shorna Akter paid off as well, as the leg-spinner collected 5-28 and led the squad to a 13-run victory.
Bangladesh, on the other hand, had the advantage of facing a South Africa team that was missing most of their frontline bowlers due to injuries, as well as top batter Marizanne Kapp, who missed the match to play in the Women’s Big Bash.
However, Nigar and Co did well to exploit on the hosts’ flaws in the opening encounter and have a chance to win their first series in any format in the next two matches on December 6 and 8.