Sultana: ‘Heartbreaking’ not to play in Bangladesh, but our support here is brilliant

This was meant to be Bangladesh’s tournament. They made sure it was their match.

A first T20 World Cup win in a decade and only their third in 22 matches to deny qualifiers Scotland a fairytale was a scrappy affair all-round, but Bangladesh will take it.

Bangladesh successfully defend 119 for 7 winning by 16 runs as Scotland, making their maiden appearance at the tournament, managed just 103 for 7 in reply during a game characterised by dropped catches galore, poor running between the wickets and just 15 boundaries – all fours – on a ground with vast dimensions square of the wicket and with the rope pushed well back.

Captain Nigar Sultana, playing her 100th T20I, managed a run-a-ball 18, bettered in her side only by Shobhana Mostary’s 36 from 38 and 29 from opener Shathi Rani. But it was enough against the newcomers, despite the best efforts of Saskia Horley, who took 3 for 13 from two over and Sarah Bryce with an unbeaten 49 in searing heat in Sharjah for the opening match of the tournament.

“It means a lot,” Sultana said after she and her team broke into an emotional on-field celebration at the end of the match.

In March, Sultana excitedly told ESPNcricinfo’s Powerplay podcast of her hopes for the tournament inspiring women and girls playing cricket in Bangladesh. But then civil unrest in the country resulted in a move to the UAE with matches shared between Sharjah and Dubai.

“Initially it was very heartbreaking because we were always bearing in mind that we were able to play in front of our home crowd,” Sultana said. “But this team, the people looking here today, it was brilliant, we got quite a few people supporting Bangladesh.

“As a professional team, I think we should move on and not be thinking about playing in Bangladesh in front of a home crowd now but still being able to play here and we are pretty fortunate.

“We all are safe and representing our country and had a good win in front of a good number of people and back home they were very happy, I think so, when we get the reaction of our family and friends, definitely they are in a very good mood right now.”

What Sharjah Stadium lacked in population, it genuinely did a decent job of making up for with atmosphere.

At one end, a bank of Scottish family and friends shouted stirring support as their players lined up to belt out Flower of Scotland at the top of their lungs and a particularly vocal bunch of Bangladesh supporters jumped, shouted and waved signs throughout the match as the ground announcer continued to rev them up – along with anyone else who’d listen.

Another swathe of seats was occupied by a large group of schoolchildren who had earlier been on the field, patiently holding up giant flags of both countries and the ICC banner through the national anthems.

And, in keeping with the UAE’s penchant for plonking down giant versions of big brands from around the world in the centre of Dubai in particular, a brass band that could have been plucked from St George’s Park in Gqeberha played enthusiastically as more spectators filtered in as though they were being serenaded by the Pied Piper.

And while the win set Bangladesh off well ahead of their second game, against England on Saturday, it also left them with work to do.

“Certainly after this game I think we need to work on our fielding because we put down a lot of chances,” Sultana said. “Definitely I missed two chances so I need to work on something. We have some time and we’ll definitely work on that and we’ll take all the positives from this game into the next game.”

For Horley, it was a case of “mixed emotions” but she remained upbeat despite arguably Scotland’s best chance of springing an upset having passed them by.

“There’s a bit of disappointment, clearly not getting the win, but there’s so much we can take from today’s game, to restrict them to only 120,” Horley said. “There’s definitely mixed emotions, definitely some positive ones still. There’s so many games left, that we’re competing and I’m excited for us to make a bit of a stance in this competition.

“We gave it a really good crack today and some things go your way, some don’t. I think we held it together in the field even when we had a couple of missed chances that we would’ve wished we’d taken. But we definitely stuck together.

“I think we were in the contest the whole time, to be honest. There wasn’t one person in the changeroom or out in the field that thought we were out of it at any point. Obviously it got challenging towards the end, but definitely we were in the competition the whole time and had belief.”