Injured Salma Khatun to miss Ireland tour

Salma Khatun, the 25-year-old all-rounder, has been ruled out of Bangladesh Women’s tour to Ireland, scheduled for September this year. Salma, who bowls off-spin and bats in the lower-middle-order, sustained an injury to her shoulder during a practice session about two weeks ago.

Bangladesh Women are scheduled to play two Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) and two ODIs during their short tour. Bready Cricket Club in Londonderry will host all the four games.

“We will definitely miss the experience of Salma who is one of the leading players in the world,” Athar Ali Khan, the selector for Bangladesh Women’s set-up, stated on Sunday (August 28). “She did join the camp but could not bowl and we thought it was in the best interest of the team that she was given time to recover as we have a long season ahead with the Asia Cup, World Cup qualifiers and hopefully the World Cup coming.

“However, we still have a lot of variation in bowling, especially in the spin department. There are two legspinners (Fahima Khatun and Rumana Ahmed) and Nahida (Akter) is a wily left-arm spinner. Newcomer Jannatul Ferdous is a very exciting prospect who bowls offbreaks, can bat in the middle order and is a fine fielder. She has caught the eye.”

Bangladesh Women’s squad: Sanjida Islam, Fahima Khatun, Ayasha Rahman, Jahanara Alam, Farzana Hoque, Nahida Akter, Lata Mondol, Panna Ghosh, Rumana Ahmed, Khadija Tul Kubra, Nigar Sultana (wk), Suraiya Azmin, Ritu Moni, Jannatul Ferdous