Tigresses' punch above their weight

Bangladesh women's team couldn't finish their maiden 50-over World Cup campaign on a high as they succumbed to a heavy defeat against an in-form England. The team, led by Nigar Sultana Joty, recorded one win out of seven matches in the eight-team tournament but their performance in the tournament was not as bad as the points table suggests. 

The Tigresses could've won at least three of the six matches they lost in the competition but fell short due to inexperience and lack of application while batting. Bangladesh were well short on experience compared to other teams but surely gave some of them a run for their money. They had the potential to do much better, according to their captain Joty but they can take pride in whatever they have achieved in their first-ever appearance in the World Cup.

Bowlers rose to the occasions 

The Bangladesh bowling attack was quite impressive right from the beginning of the competition. They were the only bowling attack that did not concede 250 or more even once in the tournament. What stood out for Bangladesh was that different bowlers took responsibility in different matches. Fariha Trisna was outstanding in the first match against South Africa as she put on an exhibition of swing and seam with the new ball. 

Bangladesh were on the verge of a defeat against Pakistan but the leg-spinning duo of Fahima Khatun and Rumana Ahmed turned the game on its head. Fahima, in particular, picked up three wickets in the space of two overs to take the game away from Pakistan. Salma Khatun was economical and picked up a crucial wicket too.

The Tigresses were brilliant against a strong West Indies as they registered an all-round bowling performance and were successful in keeping the likes of Deandra Dottin, Hayley Matthews and Stephanie Taylor quiet. 

Salma Khatun proved her worth in the match against Australia. Defending a meagre 135, Bangladesh reduced Australia to 70 for five at one stage thanks to Salma's three-wicket spell inside the powerplay. Her victims included Alyssa Healy, Meg Lanning and Rachael Haynes. Lanning was fresh off a hundred and her dismissal gave Bangladesh a real chance but Beth Mooney stood tall to get them over the line.

"If I talk about Salma first, I think she contributes to the team all the time. Recently she has improved her batting a lot. In the last two matches, she has performed consistently for the team which is a very good sign. And basically, we are much more dependent on Salma because she bowls in three or four spells. Whenever there is a tough situation, I give the ball to Salma for her to either control the moment or take a wicket or lower the run rate in that over. So, basically, I think she is the most important player for the team," Nigar said about Salma. 

Lack of experience and batting failure let Bangladesh down

After the India match, Bangladesh skipper Joty rightly pointed out the lack of experience of the Bangladesh team. "The only difference I think is that they played 240 matches whereas we played only 48 matches. That is a difference. And they're continually playing international matches, maybe we can't play that. This is our difference," she said. 

Former cricketer and commentator Mel Jones too talked about the difference of number of the matches between Bangladesh and Australia or other established teams. It's quite clear that Bangladesh lost at least two matches because they could not hold their nerves. Against South Africa, after a great start, they couldn't sustain the momentum as the batters failed to pace the chase properly. 

Against New Zealand, they were superb inside the powerplay but lost the way in the powerplay. Bangladesh could have won against West Indies and Australia if they had batted a bit better because the bowling was absolutely top-notch.  

The Tigresses were poor with the bat especially against India and England as they couldn't even cross 135 chasing 230-plus totals. 

Former cricketer and currently a commentator Lisa Sthalekar, having spoken about the potential, said that Bangladesh could've done slightly better in the tournament and added that she would be very interested to see how the team looks like in the next three-four years given the talent in the team. With Bangladesh entering into ICC's FTP now, they will play more bilateral series in future against the top teams. "I think if this same team we can play together again for another 1-2 years, play more and more matches, I think this team will one day be able to come out as one of the top-ranking teams in the world," said the captain Joty.