Guwahati, Oct 11 (IANS) After suffering consecutive losses at the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, Bangladesh are turning their focus to finding solutions — particularly with the bat — ahead of a crucial clash against South Africa in Visakhapatnam on Monday.

Bangladesh began their campaign brightly with a victory over Pakistan but have since slipped outside the top four after defeats to England and New Zealand. The back-to-back setbacks have put pressure on their upcoming fixtures, especially with little turnaround time before facing a resurgent South African side.

Despite the team’s struggles, Rabeya Khan has been one of the few shining lights in Bangladesh’s recent outings. The 19-year-old all-rounder impressed again in their 100-run defeat to New Zealand, returning figures of 3/30 off 10 overs and contributing 25 off 39 balls with the bat. Yet, she didn’t shy away from acknowledging where things went wrong.

“If the top-order doesn’t score runs, whatever the lower order does becomes useless,” Rabeya told the media after the match. “It’s really tough for us that way … our batting has collapsed (in the last two games).”

Reflecting on the previous loss to England, Rabeya explained that their lower order had tried to stabilize the innings after another early collapse.

“In the last match, our batters lost wickets very early, and there were still lots of overs left. So Fahima Khatun and I decided we would stay at the crease and take singles to keep the scoreboard moving. While we were batting, we focused on taking as many singles as possible so we could build runs steadily and aim for a bigger total in the last 5–10 overs,” she said. “But since we lost many wickets early, we couldn’t manage a big score.”

Rabeya dismissed any suggestion that the pitch conditions were to blame for the defeats.

“The wicket was the same (for both teams), we just couldn’t play well. That’s the main thing,” she admitted. “So … the main thing is batting — batting collapsed. Next time we will concentrate on the batting unit, and bowling and fielding just continue (how they have performed).”

The young spinner also came to the defense of captain Nigar Sultana Joty, who has struggled for form so far, averaging just nine runs in the tournament.

“(She) was very confident during practice, and she’s usually confident in matches too,” Rabeya said. “But sometimes, the runs just don’t come off the bat … that’s normal. She’s trying hard; there’s no lack of effort from her side.”

Bangladesh now face South Africa, a team on the rise after losing their opener but bouncing back with two consecutive wins.

“Next time,” Rabeya concluded, “we will concentrate on the batting.”

–IANS

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