‘Heartbreak no more’

Bangladesh women's team appear trapped in a familiar cycle: showing promise only to unravel at the finish, their struggles with composure and match awareness mirroring those of their male counterparts.

After letting it slip while defending against England and South Africa earlier in the ICC Women's World Cup, Nigar Sultana Joty's side once again found themselves on the brink of victory in Navi Mumbai on Monday, only to lose by seven runs to Sri Lanka and, with it, go out of the semifinals race.

Having done the hard work with the ball, restricting Sri Lanka to 202, Bangladesh appeared to have cracked the code in their chase while their oppositions went through the motions. Yet, despite 12 runs needed off 12 balls and six wickets in hand, with their skipper Joty still set in the middle, the scoreboard froze; the dugout sank.

Bangladesh have rarely been comfortable chasing. Their game plan has traditionally centred on putting runs on the board and defending with spin. When forced to chase, they tend to take matches deep; often to their detriment.

"It's not heartbreak anymore; it's a complete failure," a team official told The Daily Star, lamenting how the batters "dragged the game till the 50th over".

The pattern has become an all-too-familiar one. In the 2022 World Cup in Dunedin, Bangladesh needed 43 off 30 balls against South Africa, but still lost four wickets for 10 runs to fall short by 32. Later that year in the Asia Cup, they failed to chase 41 in seven overs against Sri Lanka, folding to 37 for seven.

Former national captain and women's wing chief Habibul Bashar believes the roots of the problem lie in inadequate preparation. Before the World Cup, the team played only a handful of practice games against under-15 men's sides and intra-squad matches, with no international series after April's qualifiers in Pakistan.

"Other teams had already planned ahead," Bashar reflected. "If we'd played smaller teams like Thailand, built a winning habit, it would have helped."

Even so, he credited the side's effort. "They've played their best cricket in this World Cup, even if the results [one win in six matches] don't show it. The belief factor is missing as they create chances but can't cash in."

Joty's 77 -- Bangladesh's highest-ever innings in a Women's ODI World Cup -- deserved a happy ending. She admitted as much after the defeat, acknowledging the team's struggle to "calm our nerves and find ways to get runs in those moments".

As Joty and company prepare to sign off with the October 26 fixture against India, their campaign has underlined that their biggest battle remains psychological.