Bangladesh national women’s team all-rounder Salma Khatun is chomping at the bits to fulfil her and many of her team-mate’s lifelong dreams of playing in the ICC Women’s World Cup, which will begin on March 4 in New Zealand.
‘It was a dream for all of us to play in the ODI World Cup. The senior members of the team have cherished this big dream of playing in the World Cup for a long time,’ Salma said on the first day of the team’s training session ahead of the global meet on Saturday.
Bangladesh women’s team secured a place in the 50-over Women’s World Cup for the first time back in December 2021, in Zimbabwe.
The national women’s team commenced their official training ahead of the competition at the Bangladesh Cricket Board National Cricket Ground, which will run up till February 2.
Among the 17 members selected in the World Cup squad, which was declared on Friday, 16 showed up for the first day’s training.
Pacer Jahanara Alam, who was surprisingly left out of the Commonwealth Games qualifiers squad where the women’s team failed to secure qualification, was the only absentee but will join the training today, said Salma.
Bangladesh is scheduled to play their tournament opener on March 5 against South Africa at the University Oval Dunedin and will leave for Dhaka on February 3.
Going to New Zealand a month ahead of the tournament will help the team acclimatise to the conditions, feels Salma.
‘We know nothing about the weather conditions in New Zealand. So, we are going there early to adapt to the weather conditions there.
‘I hope we can do something good if we can use the facilities that we get there.’
Salma also said that she is happy with the team selected for World Cup.
‘The team that has been formed, I believe it’s a very good team.’
