20 February - Cape Town - Bangladesh Captain Nigar Sultana pre-match press conference
[Reporter]
Joty, Your tournaments are almost over and there is just one more match left. You said that you want to win at least one match but you couldn't. Now there is just one match left. What is your plan ahead of this or what did you gain from this total tournament? I have one more question if you can answer that later.
[Nigar Sultana]
Firstly, you have answered that we couldn't but still, there is an opportunity. Since we still have one match in hand. See, we know that we couldn't perform well as a team. But we couldn't perform well as a team that's why the team couldn't do well. So far, if we look at individual performance, we couldn't perform well as a team in spite of one or two of us performing well individually. Because if we can't perform as a team, it will be difficult to play the match. And we made some small mistakes, which cost us a lot. So far, we have a match in our hands.
If we take into consideration all our mistakes and learn from them, we can play good cricket in the last match. I think South Africa is under pressure, but we are not under any pressure. So if we can play pressureless cricket, I think we can play the match well.
[Reporter]
One more thing. In the last match, Shorna Akter batted very well. You must have seen it. You were there. She batted very well. The first two matches were a bit tough for her, but he clicked in the third match. The seniors who are here, have been playing in the national team for a long time. Actually, the graph is not getting improved. Do you think you need more fresh blood like Shorna on your team?
[Nigar Sultana]
So far, Shorna Akter has been included in the main team because of doing well in the U-19 team. We didn't create any pressure on her. It took some time for her to settle down in the first two matches. This is normal. She is very young and she has maturity that's why she is playing in the XI. We have given her that much luxury and we have created an opportunity for her to play pressureless cricket together with the team and the management. That's why She played well in the third match. So far, we are seeing new faces and they are being included in the team. We did it even before. It's not that everyone who joined newly played well for the team. We are getting one or two such players.
The seniors may not be able to click this time. But you will see that the outcome of the match has changed because the seniors played well. I don't think it's right to define a player just because she played well in a tournament. The management can give a good answer to this question. How do they want to see the team? How do they want to build the team in the future? So far, since we have one more match, we are focusing more on that.
[Reporter]
No, I mean, you are a big stakeholder. It has been many years since you have been the captain. Certainly, you are a big stakeholder. We have not seen that much of your improvement in the T20. What do you think about the T20? Do you think we are going toward a revolution? Do you think we should try something new?
[Nigar Sultana]
I think the management can understand this better. When a player is not able to work effectively for the team, the management can understand this better. As a captain, I think I should take the team that is given to me and try to fight against the other team and win the match. I think this is the best way. I think the selector can tell you better about this.
[Reporter]
First of all, all the best for your final game against South Africa tomorrow. I wanted to ask, obviously, the tournament hasn't gone well for your team till now. But going forward, what are the positives for your team that you have found out from this World Cup and what are the areas that you will look to improve on?
[Nigar Sultana]
The thing is, a few things are not going well towards the team. We have a few individual performances over there, but still, I think we are lacking in team performance. This has actually cost us very much for the tournament, but still, I think we have one match that if we could do well and get a win, it will cover up everything, I guess. Not cover up everything, but still, we can get something from the tournament and that will help us in the future. Obviously, we are trying to manage something that we actually did in the last couple of matches that we don't want to do in the next match and looking forward to play against South Africa.
[Reporter]
Captain, you said earlier that we are going to play in the semi-finals, but that is not the case. So, I wanted to say that in the group of Australia and South Africa, was there a realistic chance of playing in the semi-finals for Bangladesh?
[Nigar Sultana]
See, every team has a goal to go to the semi-finals before the tournament. And I will say that we had a chance if we could play well against Sri Lanka. We had a winning opportunity against Sri Lanka. In the second innings, we were not able to bowl well or field well, so we lost the match. The second match against Australia was tough for us, but the team was not able to perform well as a batting unit, but the bowling was very good. Overall, I always say that team-wise, we can always see a lack of performance. So, in these wickets, when you can't score more than 130 or 140 runs, it becomes difficult to do well against other teams and win. But still, I think the match against Sri Lanka was very close for us.
If we had played better cricket, we would have won the match. But now, everyone like New Zealand has won two matches, Sri Lanka has won two matches. The equation is that if we had won one match, we would have had the opportunity to play in the semi-finals if we were fighting in one more match. But before the tournament. Everyone comes here thinking about the bigger step so that we can at least play in the semi-finals. So far, what has not happened, we want to play well in the last match at least so that we can get something good at least by playing well in the last match. Of course, all of us want to go home by winning a match.
[Reporter]
After the first match, do you have any information about the team plan? [inaudible] What is your plan for team formation before the last match?
[Nigar Sultana]
So far, we haven't been able to practice today because it is raining a lot outside. Tomorrow, we have a match in the evening. We will decide after we go to the ground. After we have seen the wicket, we can decide how we will play and whom should we play, and what will be better for the team. What will be better if we play more spin or pace, we can decide after seeing the South Africa team and it will depend on the weather tomorrow and of course the behavior of the wicket.
[Reporter]
Two questions. Obviously, Bangladesh can't now progress to the semi-finals, but South Africa can. Does it give Bangladesh a bit of motivation to spoil the party a little bit tomorrow if you beat the host? Is that something that’s in your mind?
And secondly, yeah, it's obviously been a disappointing tournament for the team, but what's the biggest plus for you and for the team? Obviously, Marufa is one of the big positives, but what are the other positives for you?
[Nigar Sultana]
First of all, we are kind of team that we can give any other team a hard time, you can see already. But the thing is, yes, they are a bit in pressure, but we don't. Just because of that we are going to play our normal games and trying to stick with our game plans and trying to execute in the middle. They're in a very big pressure, obviously, because we are just going to do that, like what we are going to do every time. And obviously playing our strength and looking forward to play against South Africa and get a good momentum in the future that we want. And obviously, I can talk about the positives and obviously we pick some young, fresh talent that you already mentioned, like Marufa Akhtar, she really bowled well through the tournament, wonderfully. And how Shorna batted in the last innings, it was brilliant. I think they can carry forward for the team in the future. And obviously, few individual performances, we can see over there and some few positive that we wanted to carry in the next.