‘I have more to give as a batter, as a player’

Nigar Sultana Joty on Sunday reaffirmed her decision to step down as Bangladesh women’s T20I captain after the Asian Games, saying she wants to focus on her batting and contribute more as a player.

The wicket-keeper batter had informed the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) by email after the Women’s Asia Cup that she would relinquish the T20I captaincy. She agreed to continue leading the side through the 20th Asian Games.

The decision, however, remained unchanged despite Bangladesh’s heavy 114-run defeat to India women in the Asian Games semi-final in Aichi-Nagoya.

“No, it's totally false that I left because I was hurt. As a batter, as a player, I have a lot more to give to my country and my team. So, I want to focus on that, and that's why I made this decision,” the 29-year-old said after the defeat.

Bangladesh’s recent struggles against India have highlighted the gap between the two sides. After Bangladesh defeated India by four wickets in Mirpur in 2023 under Joty’s captaincy, they have now lost 10 successive T20Is against their neighbours, often by substantial margins.

Tigresses beat them twice, in the group stage and final, to win the 2018 Women’s Asia Cup T20I title in Malaysia, with Joty part of that victorious squad.

Reflecting on the semi-final defeat, the right-hand batter acknowledged the gulf between the teams but admitted Bangladesh could have performed better.

“The difference between India and us is quite big. But we should have played better,” she said.

“When you have such a big target to chase, a batting collapse like this can happen. But I think if we had bowled a little better, we could have restricted them to a lower total,” she added.

She also accepted responsibility for the batters’ failure to rise to the occasion.

“When a team collapses for such a low score, it means we batters did not take any responsibility,” Joty concluded.