Bangladesh national women’s cricket team captain Nigar Sultana Joty expressed on Friday that she was ‘very happy’ ahead of the packed international schedule, as they always wanted to stay busy with cricket.

The Joty-led side have been preparing for the forthcoming Women’s Asia Cup, followed by the women’s event at the next Asian Games, scheduled in September.

Bangladesh will play China in their opening match, a quarter-final fixture in the Asian Games at Nagoya in Japan.

Bangladesh will tour Australia for a three-match ODI series in October before travelling to New Zealand in December, where they play three T20Is and ODIs each.

The England and Wales Cricket Board on Thursday also confirmed the first bilateral series—in both white-ball formats—in 2027.

Joty believes the tours are also a reflection of their recent Women’s T20 World Cup campaign, where they won two matches in English conditions.

‘It will be a very big opportunity for our team. We have always wanted to play in places like Australia, New Zealand or England because playing there helps develop your skills much more, Joty told reporters at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on Friday.

‘Since we recently played in England and did well there, there is definitely a reflection of that. However, I think that is something for much later.’

However, Joty wants to focus on the immediate fixtures. ‘Before that, we have a lot of scheduled commitments, and it is better to focus on those. If we can go there with the best possible preparation, it will be good.

‘Under the FTP (Future Tour Programme), every series is important for us now. We have to think about collecting points from each of them,’ she said.

‘The biggest thing is that the players are very happy because we have always wanted to stay busy with cricket. We have a lot of cricket coming up in both formats. From that perspective, it is very important that the players remain available. They need to stay fit and make themselves available for selection,’ she added.

Joty said that the persistent rain hindered their preparations but expressed their goal of reaching the finals in the Asia Cup, a tournament they won in 2018.

‘We want to prepare in a way that allows us to approach this Asia Cup better than we did last year. With the amount of rain currently affecting every venue in Bangladesh, we will still try to prepare in the best possible way before going there and definitely aim to play in the final,’ she added.

Joty was present at the Notun Kuri Sports Cricket event’s final ceremony.