Juairiya Ferdous achieved her goal of doing something special on her World Cup debut as Bangladesh began with a nervy win over debutants Netherlands in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in Birmingham on Sunday.
The right-handed opener rode her luck and smashed a 32-ball fifty to lead Bangladesh to a strong start in the run chase of 140.
However, 67-1 became 87-4 to shake the Bangladesh camp before the experienced Sharmin Akter and Shorna Akter got them home with five balls to spare.
‘Since this was the first match of the tournament and also my first World Cup match, my goal was to do something special and contribute to the team. I tried my best, and I am happy that I could contribute, even if only a little,’ Juairiya, who was playing her 15th T20I, said.
‘Since we were bowling first, when we saw that the target was 140, we felt that we needed to bat with a very good strike rate. So I tried to play positively. As an opening batter, it was very important for us to make good use of the powerplay,’ she added.
While she fell right after reaching the milestone, Juairiya said that her mindset remained the same.
‘My aim was to score as many runs as possible during that phase. I focused on how I could make the best use of the powerplay, and then, once I got set, I wanted to build a bigger innings. That was my plan and what I tried to execute,’ she said.
Bangladesh might have got to a positive start, but Juairiya knew that they had tougher challenges ahead. But she wants to maintain the same mindset.
‘We have matches coming up against some very strong teams. My main responsibility is to make good use of the powerplay, so I will continue trying to do that. Against the bigger teams, I want to make the most of the powerplay and play longer innings for my team,’ she said.
Bangladesh will take on Australia in Leeds on Wednesday.
