Bangladesh team have taken arguably their best-ever preparation ahead of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in the UAE, starting on October 3, with a good number of international fixtures, a domestic T20 tournament and long training camps, highlighting the ambition of achieving success in the global meet.

Over the last two years, young leg spinner Rabeya Khan has emerged as a permanent member in Bangladesh women’s team squads in white-ball cricket. Consistent performances with the ball and the ability to score runs down the order has earned the 19-year-old the stamp of approval from her skipper Nigar Sultana Joty and head coach Hashan Tillakaratne. Before the team’s departure for the T20 World Cup in the UAE, Rabeya spoke with The Daily Star’s Samsul Arefin Khan where she opened up about her bittersweet journey in cricket and what she hopes to achieve in the upcoming tournament. Here are the excerpts:

It has been 10 years since Bangladesh national women’s cricket team registered their last victory in the ICC T20 World Cup. The victory came back in 2014 when Bangladesh hosted the marquee tournament and the Tigresses defeated Ireland in a ninth-place play-off match in Sylhet.

The emergence of players like Taj and Disha just before the mega event has come at the expense of veterans in Rumana Ahmed and Salma Khatun.

Women’s wing head of Bangladesh Cricket Board Habibul Bashar insisted that even though the girls are upset about missing out on playing the upcoming ICC Women’s T20 World Cup on home soil, it won’t hamper their preparation for the global tournament.

Bangladesh’s lacklustre Women’s Asia Cup mission ended on Friday with a humiliating 10-wicket defeat to India in the semifinal, a drubbing that could be the precursor to more such embarrassments in the forthcoming ICC Women’s T20 World Cup at home.

“A semifinal is always a pressure game. If you lose this, you are out of the tournament… Of course, if we can beat a strong team like India right before a World Cup, it will give our team a lot of confidence,” said Nahida

“Both our men’s and women’s teams are not strong in this format [T20]. Playing a smaller number of domestic competitions can be one of the reasons why,” Joty said during a press conference

Bangladesh’s women’s side are slated to play the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka, scheduled to begin on July 19, with an eye on the upcoming T20 World Cup at home in October. The Tigresses, however, have a lot to work out in the meantime as they suffered a slump in recent times, with batting being their main concern in series losses to Australia and India at home. Head coach Hashan Tillakaratne talked about how the Tigresses can recover from this slump, and use their spin advantage and their target in the Asia Cup during an interview with The Daily Star’s Abdullah Al Mehdi. The excerpts of the interview are as follows:

Rainy weather and a lack of facilities hampered Bangladesh women’s team’s training camp at the BKSP which ended on Friday and left the team somewhat undercooked before they head off to Sri Lanka for the forthcoming ACC Women’s T20 Asia Cup on July 16.

The calm and quiet surroundings of BKSP, the national sports institute in Savar, provided the backdrop for two different teams' preparations heading into two different kinds of objectives yesterday, with the weather making for interesting training conditions.

'As the hosts, we want to see our team go all the way. But honestly, we also have to consider the strengths of our team and of our opponents.'

The Bangladesh captain stated that featuring in a home T20 World Cup was a unique experience for her side, especially the younger players.

“Batting is the area we need to work on. We need to work on our approach and intent in batting,” Joty said in the post-match presentation.

Ritu hit a 37 off 33 balls while Shorifa Khatun remained unbeaten on 21-ball 28, however, their efforts could not take the Tigresses over the line

Bangladesh will start their Women’s T20 World Cup campaign at home in October this year against Scotland, which was confirmed following the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifiers were concluded yesterday.

Yet another disappointing batting display saw the Bangladesh women’s cricket team suffer a 56-run defeat (DLS) in the rain-interrupted fourth T20I against India at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium today.

The rain didn't allow the match to resume and India were declared victorious, as they were 19 runs ahead of the DLS par score.

The five-match series will take place in its entirety at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium.

An ICC delegation arrived in Bangladesh on Sunday to inspect venues of the upcoming women’s T20 World Cup to be hosted by the country in September-October.