Bangladesh women’s cricket skipper Nigar Sultana Joty has firmly denied allegations that she played a role in removing senior players from the national team. 

Speaking to Daily Sun, Joty also brushed aside the allegation that she behaves like a dictator in the national dressing room.

Recently, several senior cricketers accused Joty for acting like a dictator in the national dressing room, while also pointed fingers on her for removing them from national cricket team.

“Definitely, I am not a dictator in the national dressing room,” Joty said. “Look, every player has a place or position in the dressing room or in a team. I have the same. As a captain I may get respect in a different way. But the other things—what players receive or what benefits they get—are the same for me. I don’t know who or why people are saying these things. Now it has become visible who is saying those. And I don’t know why they are saying it. Since I have been doing captaincy for a long time, expecting that everyone will like me cannot be the case and I do not expect that everyone will like me or love me.”

She added, “Look, out of 100 people may 70 like me and 30 don’t. It could even be 50–50: some like me and some don’t, because it is impossible for everyone’s preferences to be the same. But personally, I know what I am doing for the team and what my intentions truly are.”

Joty dismissed the notion that she removed any players through influence or a syndicate.

“About this matter, I have been hearing these things for a long time—that I removed them, just because they were performers, they were captain candidates, or bla bla bla… a lot of things. And my question is, first of all—what is a syndicate? What is a syndicate?” she said.

She reflected on her experience in the national dressing room since 2015 and her captaincy tenure starting in 2021. 

“I have been playing cricket in the national team since 2015. Back then I shared the dressing room with the seniors. When I became captain in 2021, even then I shared the dressing room with all the players. And I never saw anything like this (syndicate),” she added. 

Joty explained the natural dynamics of team relationships. 

dressing room—just like in any place—not everyone becomes your close friend. In a group of five, you may have a good bonding with three, and an average bonding with two because we play in a team. With eleven players, you can have eleven different types of relationships. As human beings, these things are normal. And here, if they say that I removed them from the team through a syndicate… Who am I to remove someone? I am not a selector. And if someone says that as a captain, I must have some role in selecting 15 or 11 players—then I will say absolutely I had no role,” Joty stated.

She elaborated further on her limited involvement in team selections. 

“When captaincy was given to me in 2021, you will be surprised to know that only during the Australia series in 2023 I was added to the selection panel. Before that, in all the series and tournaments we played, I had no involvement in any selection discussions. Other players would go to the team meeting and did not know the eleven; I also did not know the eleven in that same team meeting. And regarding who would be in the 15 or the 18—there was never any discussion with me. If you want to cross-check this, you can talk to the cricket board,” she said.

Joty also recounted an incident from a New Zealand series to clarify her stance. 

“I did not talk about this because—once, when we were playing a bilateral series in New Zealand under the coaching of Hashan Tillakaratne—during one match, Rumana Apu was given rest, Salma Apu was given rest, and maybe Jahanara Apu did not play for some reason. Then Salma Apu told me, ‘You have made us sit out,’ or many types of things—‘Don’t you know we have been benched?’ I said, ‘Salma Apu, please believe me, I do not know anything about this. Just like you come to the meeting and get to know the eleven, I get to know it the same way.’ Then she said, ‘So are you just here to do the toss as captain?’ I had to hear things like that too,” she concluded.