Papon 'sad' due to Bangladesh's sorry performance
"I'm sad, of course. And I'm not alone, every cricket lover of the country must be sad. But I'm not disappointed with the women's performance," Papon said."I'm sad, of course. And I'm not alone, every cricket lover of the country must be sad. But I'm not disappointed with the women's performance," Papon said.
Bangladesh cricket is not going through the best of times. Both men's and women's national teams are currently playing at home, against Afghanistan and India respectively and both have tasted defeat in their recent matches. The men's national team lost their first-ever ODI series defeat to the Afghans with a match to spare where Nigar Sultana Jyoti-led women's side lost their their first T20I against India on Sunday. These sorry performances have made the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Najmul Hasan Papon sad.
The BCB boss watched the first T20I between Bangladesh and India on Sunday. He told the media after the match that not only him, the whole of Bangladesh is sad due to these losses.
"I'm sad, of course. And I'm not alone, every cricket lover of the country must be sad. But I'm not disappointed with the women's performance," Papon said.
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Tamim Iqbal's retirement was the biggest shock in the last few days. It might have disrupted the rhythm of the team. and could have been a reason behind the team's sorry performance in the second match. But Papon believes everything will be alright.
The women's team played their first match the Home of Cricket for the first time since 2012. Papon said the cricketers would often tell him about not playing at Mirpur. Finally, they got what they wanted. They will play the rest of the series at the same ground.
"They used to tell me they never played here (in Mirpur). They had a wish to play here. I said they will play in the next series."
"India is a very strong team. One of the top three teams in the world. But still, our girls played well, and they will do even better in future. We couldn't provide them with enough facilities, but they have the potential," Papon added.
There is no sponsor in the ongoing women's series. The first T20I had a near-empty gallery. There was an announcement of free entry just before the match, that too in the BCB Media group, no media house published the news.
"Women's cricket draws crowds in some countries. But we are still not in that condition," he concluded.
