BANGLADESH skipper, Nigar Sultana, said, on Monday, that she will take a break after the World Cup to manage her workload. Sazzad Ahmed, Bangladesh Cricket Board’s women’s wing chief selector, told Cricbuzz that Sultana will not take part in the forthcoming National Cricket League, scheduled after the World Cup, as she wants to work on her fitness and address injury concerns.

“She will not take part in the NCL after the World Cup as she wants to work on her fitness as well as make sure she recovers from her fitness,” Sazzad said.
Cricbuzz understands that she is dealing with knee and thumb issues. Her request to skip the NCL raised a few eyebrows, as it suggested she may not be entering the global tournament fully fit. During the pre-World Cup press conference, Sultana clarified her stance.
“Every player deals with lot of things and for me that is the same and I always try to overcome everything and keep myself fit enough because I feel batting is an important area and after keeping for 50 overs if I think about scoring big I need to keep myself fit,” Sultana said. “And to make that happen you need to take some decision and recently I have taken some decision that makes me feel more fitter.”

“The reason behind it (taking break from cricket after World Cup) is that I am playing continuous cricket for the last six months. I think it is high time for players to understand work load – like how much I should play so that I can make myself available for next international series and can give [a good] performance. That is the reason I am taking this decision,” she added.
“Ultimately my first priority is national duty and if I cannot make myself fit for that it will be harmful for the team,” she said.
Sultana is expected to work with a personal trainer during her break from competitive cricket. She also downplayed concerns about Bangladesh not having played international cricket in the past six months and their losses against Under-15 boys in preparation.
While other international teams managed to play against each other, Bangladesh had to settle for matches against Under-15 boys in the Challenge Cup, organised by the BCB as part of the team’s World Cup preparation.

“The tournament that you mention against Under-15 boys – there the full national team did not play because a lot of players came from outside while different opportunities were created for some other cricketers. The players who have played could not perform up to the mark and it affected the players.
“You are talking about standards. If you play cricket on a regular basis, you can understand the graph of standard because we are playing a series and after that for three to four months we are not playing anything. To maintain that [standard] we need to play more international cricket as it would be better for us,” she said. (Cricbuzz)