Packed build-up for Tigresses ahead of T20 World Cup

Bangladesh Women will host Sri Lanka in April as part of their build-up to the 2026 T20 World Cup, scheduled to be held in England and Wales in June-July. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is also in talks with other teams around the UK to arrange another build-up series before the World Cup, in a bid to ensure better preparation in early-summer conditions. According to the tentative schedule, the Sri Lanka Women’s team will travel to Bangladesh on 17 April to play three One Day Internationals and three T20 Internationals.
Apart from that, BCB is also aiming to host the first-ever Women’s Bangladesh Premier League (WBPL), involving three franchises.
“So Sri Lanka is coming on 17 April — that’s our only bilateral series so far ahead of the World Cup, according to the current FTP (Future Tours Programme). After this, we have the WBPL,” said women’s team selector Sajjad Ahmed Shipon.
Bangladesh suffered heavily from a lack of competitive game time ahead of last year’s Cricket World Cup in India, where Nigar Sultana Joty’s team did not play any bilateral series in the lead-up to the tournament. They were later forced to play age-group boys as part of their preparation for the marquee event.
This time around, BCB is trying to keep the girls busy with international cricket. “We actually have another plan as well. What we’re thinking is that before going to England, we are trying to arrange matches somewhere else too, and most probably it will happen,” Sajjad said.
Sajjad also said that the extra matches would help the players acclimatise quickly to the challenges of early summer.
“It will help us adjust to the conditions. Because it will be tough — there will be a lot of bounce, and being physically ready will be very important for us,” he explained. The Bangladesh Women’s A team is currently participating in the Asia Cup Rising Stars tournament, which selectors will closely monitor in terms of possible World Cup selections.

“We will be looking at the Rising Stars tournament since there are two or three sections where we are not too confident at the moment. Nishita (Nishita Akter Nishi) is injured, so we need to find another off-spinning option. We will look to add an extra pacer in the team because of the English conditions. We also need an opener and a middle-order batter,” Sajjad revealed. Meanwhile, national team players who returned from an unbeaten World Cup qualifier campaign will join the conditioning camp ahead of the Sri Lanka series.
“We will probably start a conditioning camp on the 25th (of February), though it’s been delayed. The last match ended and the team returned on the 2nd, so there has been a long gap because of the elections. Everything was closed. So we’ll start a conditioning or preparation camp around the 25th. After the break, we’ll move into our Sri Lanka plans,” Sajjad concluded.