'We were in tears, we forgot everything else'

Bangladesh women's cricket team made their T20 World Cup debut in 2014, seven years after their first appearance in international cricket. And seven years after they featured in the first T20 World Cup, the women's team qualified for the Women's Cricket World Cup. 

As the remainder of the World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe have been called off due to a newfound Covid-19 variant in South Africa, the qualification spots have been decided based on rankings. Bangladesh, as one of the top eight teams in ICC rankings as of 15 September, qualified for the World Cup.

As soon as the players came to know about the news, their joy knew no bounds. They forgot everything else. Some of them were in tears. The team's newly appointed skipper Nigar Sultana Joty was lost for words. 

"It's difficult to put into words. We were in tears. We forgot everything else. We worked very hard for this. That's why we moved up to number five in the rankings. We've got the results of our hard work," she told The Business Standard. 

While Joty was speaking over the phone, the other members were celebrating and shouting with joy, so much so that she was finding it difficult to speak. "Our dream has come true. So the celebration won't end soon," she said.

Rumana Ahmed, former skipper of the team, said, "We were so happy that we forgot about lunch. We have waited so long for this very moment. It's the best moment of our lives. We aren't even able to decide how to celebrate. That's why we are just shouting and jumping."

The women's team have been congratulated by the BCB president Nazmul Hassan, chairman of the women's wing Shafiul Alam Chowdhury Nadel and technical director Khaled Mahmud. "Papon Sir, Sujon Sir have congratulated us. Chairman Sir (Nadel) called many times. He was so happy that he cried," Joty said.