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History-making Bangladesh women’s national team will be given a gala reception when they will return home today after being crowed as champions in the ACC Women’s Twenty20 Asia Cup held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Bangladesh women’s team created a new history on Sunday when they defeated six-time champions India by three wickets in a thrilling final to lift the Asia Cup title for the first time.
The win against India in the final could not be recognised as fluke as Bangladesh defeated the World Cup finalists also in the league stage and won five matches at a stretch to become the Asian champions.
The triumphant side, who became the first Bangladeshi team to lift a continental title, is scheduled to arrive at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 5:50pm today.
They will be taken straight to a city hotel, where they will be given a gala reception.
The BCB is also expected to announce a cash reward for women’s team after the historic success, which may come as a perfect boost for the team ahead of World Twenty20 qualifiers, scheduled in the Netherlands from July 7-14.
‘This is a great achievement in women’s cricket,’ BCB chief executive officer Nizamuddin Chowdhury told reporters in Mirpur in his instant reaction.
‘The win will inspire the side to achieve more glories in future. We have been working for the women’s team for quite a long time but were not able to get success. I think this will be a huge inspiration for the women’s team for the future,’ he added.
BCB women’s wing chairman Shafiul Alam Chowdhury also expressed his delight after the success of women’s team in Asia Cup.
‘As you know that the women’s team were suffering through many problems but our Prime Minister [Sheikh Hasina] told our board president to take extra care of them. Since then, we have been doing extra camps and are trying to increase the number of matches,’ Shafiul told New Age.
As Jahanara Alam came down the wicket to hit Harmanpreet Kaur to deep midwicket region to take the needed two runs in the final ball of the match, thousands of cricket fans, who watched the game in TV erupted in joy.
The spectators include Bangladesh men’s cricket team, who took their time off in training at Mirpur to watch the historic win in their dressing room.
Opener Tamim Iqbal posted a video of Tigers sharing the winning moment of women’s team in his Instagram account, which had gone viral almost immediately.
Until 9:00pm, over 23,000 fans shared the video in Facebook, which saw the Tigers putting their recent disappointments of losing 0-3 to Afghanistan to burst into celebration once the winning runs were scored.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim also shared a video of winning moment while congratulatory messages poured in from many corners.
President Md Abdul Hamid, prime minister Sheikh Hasina and speaker of the parliament Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury also congratulated the women’s team in separate messages.
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