Former Bangladesh captain Salma Khatun becomes country's first woman selector

The former Bangladesh captain, Salma Khatun, became the nation's first woman selector. She joins forces with Sazzad Ahmed in the senior women's selection panel. Khatun will have no time to ease herself into the new role as Bangladesh are making their last-minute preparations ahead of the 2025 Women's ODI World Cup, which gets underway on September 30.

While the squad has already been announced, Khatun will want to keep a close eye on the performances of the players in the marquee event. The Bangladesh men's team has produced some promising results of late, even qualifying for the Super Fours in the 2025 Asia Cup despite finding themselves placed in a tough group. Khatun will look to guide the Bangladesh women's team to similar success if not more in the years to come.

The Khulna-born, Salma, was the first-ever captain of the Bangladesh women's team. She led Bangladesh in 65 T20Is and 18 ODIs. She was No. 1 in the rankings for bowlers in T20I cricket in 2014 and 2015. In the shortest format, she accounted for 84 wickets with her off-spin bowling, averaging 18.57, with best figures of 4/6 against Sri Lanka.

"I think this is a revolutionary decision by our [BCB] president [Aminul Islam], as having someone like Salma involved will provide great support for women's cricket. This is the first time such an appointment has been made in Bangladesh," Iftekhar Rahman, the BCB's media committee chairman, said.

The board has also promoted Hasibul Hossain to the senior men's selection panel. He will join chief selector Gazi Ashraf Hossain and Abdur Razzak. The third position had been vacant since Hannan Sarkar left the role in February this year.

Hasibul is a former seamer, who played five Tests and 32 ODIs for Bangladesh. He represented the Tigers in their inaugural Test match against India in 2000, and was involved in the famous leg-bye that won Bangladesh the ICC Trophy final in 1997.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh will begin their campaign in the Women's World Cup on October 2. as they face Pakistan at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Ahead of this clash, the Nigar Sultana-led side will play two warm-up games against South Africa and Sri Lanka on September 25 and 27, respectively.