BCB distances itself from Nigar’s handshake snub against India
Bangladesh women’s team captain Nigar Sultana skipped the customary handshake with her Indian counterpart Harmanpreet Kaur at the toss on Thursday’s Women’s Asia Cup semifinal – a decision that was the skipper’s own and not endorsed by the board, said the women's wing chairman Rafiqul Islam Babu.
“This is Joty's [Nigar’s] personal decision,” Babu said while speaking to reporters at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Saturday.
“We believe the whole world gets united through sports. If difference was created through sports then Iran would never have gone to America to play.
"We want friendly relations with all the countries, not just with India but all the nations. What Joty [Nigar] did was entirely her personal decision, we don't know anything about it," he added.
This is also not the first time both captains have chose not to shake hands at the toss.
Nigar and Harmanpreet avoided shaking hands at toss of their 2025 Women’s World Cup match and 2026 Women’s T20 World Cup as well.
The customary handshakes – an innocent gesture of sportsmanship – has become a contentious point in international cricket since last year’s September, when the Indian team refused to shake the hands of Pakistani players after their match in the Asia Cup.
Nigar and Co. lost the semifinal by a comprehensive margin of 40 runs and were eliminated from the tournament, where their lone triumph had come in 2018 when they beat India in the final.
The women’s team’s performances have been on a downward spiral. Nigar’s captaincy is also under the scanner after reportedly complaints have been lodged against her for misconduct.
Babu hinted that changes may be in the offing.
“There are many shortcomings in the team. We have not been able to beat the bigger teams. We played well in the World Cup too but lost because of small mistakes. We are working to make the team stronger and more competitive,” Babu said.
Nigar and Co. will next fly to Japan to compete in the Asian Games 2026 women’s cricket discipline, set to run from September 17 to 22.
Babu said that the complaints against Nigar will be assessed after the Asian Games.
“We have discussed the thing [performance and complaint] in total with the board president and since they are in Asian Games we will assess the situation after the conclusion of the games.”