Bangladesh announce women’s T20 World Cup squad with only 2 pacers

Bangladesh’s cricket board announced on Sunday that star batter Taj Nehar was back in the squad for the women’s T20 World Cup in England and Wales, with Nigar Sultana leading the 15-member team.

Bangladesh depart for Edinburgh on 25 May for a tri-series against Scotland and then the Netherlands before travelling to Loughborough for the official warm-up matches.

Pacer Sharmin Sultana, who featured in the last home T20I series against Sri Lanka, has been left out of the team with Nehar taking her spot.

The side includes two specialist pacers in Marufa Akter and Fariha Islam Trisna, with Ritu Moni as part-time medium bowler.

Chief selector Sajjad Ahmed set a target of three wins from five group stage matches.

“In the World Cup we have five matches excluding the two practice matches. Among those five, we hope to win three,” Sajjad told reporters after the announcement.

“Our targets are Netherlands, then Pakistan, South Africa -- we are working very hard on those three.”

The chief selector also acknowledged a lack of pace bowling depth.

“We don’t have many pacers in our pipeline. Most of the time, the important ones get injured at crucial moments. We have two pace bowlers -- Fariha Islam Trisna and Marufa Akter -- with Ritu Moni as our third pacer,” he said.

Squad: Nigar Sultana Joty (captain), Nahida Akter (vice captain), Sharmin Akter Supta, Sobhana Mostary, Shorna Akter, Ritu Moni, Rabeya Khan, Fahima Khatun, Fariha Islam Trisna, Marufa Akter, Sanjida Akter Meghla, Sultana Khatun, Dilara Akter, Juairiya Ferdous, Taj Nehar.