Still have chance to qualify for World Cup

Bangladesh women’s cricket team’s hopes of securing direct qualification for the ICC Women’s ODI World Cup were dashed after they suffered an 8-wicket defeat to the West Indies in the third and final ODI of their series. With this loss, Bangladesh failed to surpass New Zealand in the Women’s ODI Championship points table, thereby missing out on automatic qualification for the World Cup.

Both Bangladesh and New Zealand had accumulated 21 points in the championship, but Bangladesh's net run rate was not sufficient to secure a top-six finish. The top six teams in the points table, including host India, qualify directly for the World Cup, which is scheduled to take place in India in August and September.

Having missed direct entry, Bangladesh will now have to participate in the World Cup qualifying round, which will be held in India. Although the dates for the qualifiers are yet to be confirmed, six teams will compete for two spots in the World Cup. Alongside Bangladesh, Ireland, Pakistan, and the West Indies, ranked 7th to 10th in the championship, will also contest the qualifiers.

Additionally, Scotland and Thailand, ranked 11th and 12th in the ICC Women's Team Rankings as of October 31, 2024, will join the qualifiers. Unlike the previous edition of the World Cup, which featured two groups of nine teams, the upcoming qualifiers will have all six teams in a single group. Bangladesh will need to finish at the top of the group in five matches to secure a place in the World Cup.

Bangladesh made history by reaching the Women’s ODI World Cup final stage for the first time in 2022. However, the road to qualifying for the main tournament for the second consecutive time has now become more challenging for Nigar Sultana Jyoti’s team.