The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has officially resolved uncertainty regarding the ODI captaincy by confirming that Nigar Sultana Joty will lead the national women’s team on their upcoming tour of Australia. The squad is scheduled to contest a three-match ODI series, and the decision to retain Joty—who has held the leadership role in this format since 2021—follows internal discussions at the BCB headquarters on Monday, September 28.
Discussions regarding a potential change in leadership emerged after the board faced embarrassment during the Asian Games, specifically when Joty resigned as T20I captain midway through the tournament. To address these concerns, BCB president Tamim Iqbal and women’s wing chairman Rafiqul Islam Babu met with the players. Following the session, Rafiqul confirmed the board’s stance to the media, stating, “I announced it today during the meeting that you are remaining as the captain and will go to Australia as captain.”
The meeting also addressed controversy surrounding recent comments made by senior coach Sarwar Imran, who publicly criticized the board’s management and the team’s performance after Bangladesh failed to secure a bronze medal at the Asian Games. Although the board deemed these remarks inappropriate and a potential breach of the code of conduct, Rafiqul confirmed that no show-cause notice would be issued to the veteran coach at this time.
Rafiqul expressed disappointment over the situation, noting that Imran’s public critiques of the team and the board were unexpected from a senior staff member. “Our coach made some indiscreet comments that nobody wanted to hear. He went somewhat beyond the code of conduct, which is very unfortunate,” Rafiqul explained. He added that while the board views the incident as a serious mistake, they intend to handle the matter internally given Imran’s status and seniority within the coaching ranks under contract with the BCB. And we did not expect this from him, he is a very senior coach. He is one of them, among the senior coaches working under the cricket board.
