‘We are going to this World Cup to win more games’

Bangladesh women's team head coach Sarwar Imran said that his side is aiming to win more games -- eyeing two matches in particular -- in the upcoming ICC Women's World Cup, slated to begin on September 30.

The Tigresses have only appeared in one ODI World Cup to date in 2021 with their only win coming against Pakistan.

Bangladesh's World Cup preparation was far from ideal as they have not played any international matches since the World Cup qualifiers in April.

Asked about what the realistic target was, Imran said it was to play good cricket without trying to gauge the gap with top sides such as Australia.

"We want to take it one match at a time. We want to play good cricket. We have 50/50 chance against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. We will try to win every game, despite the standards of teams like Australia. We beat Pakistan in the last World Cup, so we are going this time to win more games," the head coach said.

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The players were only able to prepare for the World Cup through camps, intra-squad games and matches with age-level boys sides such as the Under-15 national team.

The players divided into two teams -- red and green -- took part in a tri-series alongside the U-15 men's team. The women's teams lost all of their matches against the boys, which led to them facing ire on social media.

On Monday, a day before their departure for the World Cup, skipper Nigar Sultana Joty was asked about poor performances in the practice game.

"We didn't play the full national side against the U15 boys. We didn't perform up to the mark, which affected the players too. I think we will understand our standards when we play at a certain level regularly," the skipper said.

"We have played a series, and then we haven't played for three or four months. A batting unit needs to play competitive cricket, on good wickets, regularly," Joty said on poor batting performances in the lead up to the World Cup.

Joty and Co are eager to finally play on some good batting surfaces at the ICC event.

"When we played in Pakistan, we made 200-plus totals in all but one game, despite averaging 180 as a team generally. It means our batters have the capacity to put up a good score in good wickets. We have a very good bowling attack too. We have a challenge ahead, but it's a good opportunity to play on good wickets in the ICC tournament," Joty said.