SPORTS REPORTER

It’s make or break for Bangladesh women’s cricket team, who will be facing one-time champions West Indies in an attempt to keep their semifinal hopes alive in their penultimate Group B fixture of the Women’s T20 World Cup at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium today.

The match is scheduled to start at 08:00 pm (Bangladesh time) and will be telecast live on Nagorik TV.

The Tigresses, who began their campaign with a 16-run win over Scotland, conceded a 21-run defeat to England in the second match. Although Bangladeshi bowlers have been top-notch in both games so far, there is concern about their batting department, which could only make 119-7 and 97-7.

“It’s a visible thing that we need to improve our own batting. I think in crucial times we have failed as a batting unit. I think our bowlers have done their job very nicely in the last two games. But we are struggling with our batting side. We are definitely looking forward to seeing a bit of improvement in the next game,” Bangladesh skipper Nigar Sultana Joty said in a pre-match press conference yesterday.

“The last two games were pretty good for us. The one we lost and the one we won. But we learnt a lot of things and what we should do next. Definitely we want to carry forward those positive stuff in the next game,” she added.

Bangladesh, who previously lost all three encounters against West Indies -- all in T20 World Cups, are currently fourth in the Group B points table with two points from two games while West Indies, who have the same points from same number of games, are in third spot with a better net run-rate.

South Africa lead the table with four points from three games while England are in second place in with four points from two games.