Ace all-rounder Salma Khatun will not feature in Bangladesh women cricket team when they will tour to Ireland for two one-day internationals and two Twenty20 matches due to shoulder injury.
A 14-member squad was announced on Sunday for the tour of Ireland, where they will play the Twenty-20 matches on September 5 and 6 before playing two ODIs on September 8 and 10 at Bready Cricket Club in Londonderry.
BCB’s selector for women’s cricket team and manager for the tour Athar Ali Khan rued Salma’s absence but said he was confident that the squad still had a lot to offer.
‘We will definitely miss the experience of Salma who is one of the leading players in the world,’ said Athar. ‘ She did join the camp but could not bowl and we thought it was in the best interest of the team that she was given time to recover as we have a long season ahead with the Asia Cup, World Cup qualifiers and hopefully the World Cup coming.
‘However, we still have a lot of variation in bowling, especially in the spin department. There are two leg spinners [Fahima Khatun and Rumana Ahmed] and Nahida [Akter] is a wily left-arm spinner.
‘Newcomer Jannatul Ferdous is a very exciting prospect who bowls off-break, can bat in the middle order and is a fine fielder. She has caught the eye.’
Athar was little concerned about the batting as that is regarded as the weakest unit of the team for a while.
‘The batting is a little bit of a worry as the openers Ayasha Rahman and Sanjida Islam have not been among the runs recently. I am expecting Fargana Hoque, who has been our best batter for a while, to take the lead here and the others can bat around her.’
But the former national team player was confident that hard work will made them victorious.
‘We are a confident unit. Bangladesh is ranked above Ireland and our goal is to win the matches but the different conditions will be a challenge and we have to work really, really hard.’
Squad
Jahanara Alam ,Sanjida Islam, Fahima Khatun, Ayasha Rahman, Fargana Hoque, Nahida Akter, Lata Mondol, Panna Ghosh, Rumana Ahmed, Khadija Tul Kobra, Nigar Sultana, Suraiya Azmin, Ritu Moni, Jannatul Ferdus Stand by : Sharmin Akter Supta, Shaila Sharmin
-With New Age input
