Bangladesh women’s team batting coach Nasiruddin Faruque Sajib is not losing sleep despite his charges falling short in the Challenge Cup against the U-15 boys’ team.

Nasiruddin stressed that the results should not overshadow the quality of preparation the women’s team gained during the camp. The U-15 boys opened their campaign with an 87-run win over Women’s Team Red, followed by a 47-run (DLS) victory against Women’s Team Green. In the third match, they secured an eight-wicket win over Team Green while they defeated Team Red in a super over.  “You can say that the opponent is only under-15s, but it is not about the age, it is all about skill versus skill. The under-15 boys are very skillful. Considering that, I think we played against the toughest opponent,” he said.

 “Some may ask why we were collapsing in BKSP. Actually, it is a part of an experiment. As the name of the tournament was ‘Challenge Cup’, we wanted our batters to face challenges as normally they do not face this type of bowling. They may have failed, but the major outcome is we have competed against a quality team. I am happy about my preparation,” he said, adding that Sylhet provided more meaningful preparation than the BKSP fixtures.

“Why I am saying that we had a good preparation, because, if we go to international standards, we get batting tracks. Keeping that in mind, our batters batted well in the Sylhet camp. You said that we were playing against U-15s here, but in Sylhet, we competed against Sylhet U-17s. We faced better bowlers there,” he said.

While acknowledging that the women batters struggled to score runs in the Challenge Cup, Faruque viewed it as part of the process. “They are trying to adjust. They have not scored many runs, but it can happen on a tricky wicket. Our preparation in Sylhet was top class,” he said.

Faruque added batters are becoming more organized and now they are working towards consistently putting up totals of 240–250 runs in one-day internationals.

“We have set a goal to try to score 240 to 250 in the first innings. Why won't it be achievable for us? I think, the bowling unit we have – especially the spin department – if they click, our batters will have a good chance if they bat sensibly.”

Looking ahead to the World Cup, he pointed out two fixtures as realistic opportunities.

“Realistically, I will keep two matches – against Pakistan and Sri Lanka – as 60-40 or 50-50. I think the team will play well in these two matches. As the first match is against Pakistan, if we can do something good, I think our World Cup will go in a good direction,” he said.

(The writer can be reached at: [email protected])