Indian women's cricket team arrived in Sylhet on Tuesday ahead of their five-match T20 International series against hosts Bangladesh.
All the five matches of the series will take place at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium when the first match will kick off on April 28. The 15-member India squad led by Harmanpreet Kaur after their arrival at the Osmani International Airport in Sylhet had a warmed reception.
After the series opener on Sunday, the remaining four matches will be held on April 30, May 2, 6 and 9 respectively.
The Indian women team had their previous tour of Bangladesh was in July 2023 for a three-match ODI and T20I series. That tour was ended with some controversies with the Indian captain Harmanpreet accusing Bangladeshi umpires of making biased decisions.
Bangladesh had lost the T20I series by 2-1 but drew the ODI series with a dramatic tie in the third ODI at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Mirpur, Dhaka when Harmanpreet outburst with an lbw decision.
Bangladesh women are through a busy schedule ahead of hosting the World T20 in September this year, as after hosting Australia for the first time ever in March, Tigresses set to host India right after a month.
India largely dominated against Bangladesh women over the years when they (Bangladesh) could won only three matches.
Two off the three wins by Bangladesh women came at the 2018 Asia Cup in which they were the champions making it the only silverware of Bangladesh women's team. The other win came in July, 2023 when Bangladesh won the last game of the series and India clinched the 3-match series by 2-1 that time.
In this tour, Sajeevan Sajana has earned her maiden call-up for India after a good Women IPL campaign. Asha Sobhana also earned her maiden call-up to the India women's team in this series after a brilliant WIPL campaign, where she became the 2nd highest wicket-taker of the tournament, for RCB in WPL 2024. Jemimah Rodrigues is a notable miss for them.
Meanwhile, right now Nahida Akter is one of the most in-form players for Bangladesh.
She was the first Bangladesh women cricketer, who was adjudged the ICC Player of the month in November 2023. She claimed 15 wickets in her last nine matches with a strike rate of 13.46.
Nahida Akter is also currently the highest wicket-taker for Bangladesh in T20Is.