They have had their moments in most games, but still find themselves at the bottom of the points table

Sruthi Ravindranath25-Oct-2025Almost. It’s the word that has defined Bangladesh’s campaign at the 2025 women’s ODI World Cup. They almost defended 178 against England. They almost beat South Africa but dropped catches under pressure. They almost chased down 203 against Sri Lanka.The what-ifs are many, but for a team playing only its second ODI World Cup, Bangladesh have punched above their weight. Yet, despite the fight, they find themselves at the bottom of the points table – even below winless Pakistan – level on number of wins with New Zealand and Sri Lanka, all three teams having split points because of washouts.The gulf between bat and ball has been evident throughout their campaign, and it surfaced once again against Sri Lanka. After their bowlers restricted Sri Lanka to 203, Bangladesh’s batters stumbled, dragging the chase deep but falling short in the final over. After that match, captain Nigar Sultana had admitted to her side’s struggles in crunch moments but refused to attribute their narrow losses to luck.Related

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“It’s really heartbreaking, definitely, because we came here to win,” she had said. “This kind of match, I think we played three games against England, South Africa and now Sri Lanka. I think we need to think about it and we have to learn so many things. [In] this kind of situation, [we should learn] how we should calm our nerves and how we should get runs. And definitely, the young players have been playing in the middle at crucial moments. So, I think they should learn.”It’s definitely our mistake. It’s not just one match; this is the third time it’s happened like this. I think we’re failing to finish properly in the final moments. We shouldn’t need to take it to the last over while chasing this kind of target. That’s our fault. Maybe there were some miscalculations, and we couldn’t use some bowlers properly in the middle overs.”Bangladesh’s batting has shown promise in patches – five different players have scored fifties, including Nigar’s fighting 77 against Sri Lanka – but frequent collapses and a glut of dot balls have proved costly. Their dot-ball percentage of 66.6 is the second-highest in the tournament, underlining their struggles.They began their campaign by comfortably chasing down 130 against Pakistan, but fell in a heap against England, New Zealand and Australia to post totals below 200. Against South Africa, Shorna Akter’s 35-ball 51 – the fastest half-century in women’s ODIs for Bangladesh – took them to 235, but they dropped several chances in the end to lose the match. Against England, they got their catching right, but the third umpire’s decision to reprieve Heather Knight proved costly in the end.There have been a few heartbreaks for Bangladesh at this World Cup•ICC/Getty ImagesOne of the factors behind the inconsistency has been their limited preparation. Since early 2024, the only top-ranked side Bangladesh have faced is Australia, back in March last year. Apart from the World Cup qualifiers in April, their build-up featured no international cricket, only domestic training camps. Nigar stressed the need for more exposure against top-ranked opposition. In the current FTP running from 2025-29 though, they are set to face India, Australia, England, South Africa and New Zealand across formats.”The more competitive cricket you play, the sharper your skills get,” she said. “In ICC tournaments, we face new situations that we don’t often see in bilateral series, where we play the same opponents again and again. A stronger domestic setup or league system would help a lot. If we get to play more competitive games at home, our chances of losing tight matches will go down for sure.”But there have been other positives too, with their young bowling attack standing out. Fast bowler Marufa Akter, just 20, whose hooping deliveries troubled batters in the powerplay, has impressed many. Their spin department, led by veteran Fahima Khatun, has also shone through the performances of youngsters Rabeya Khan (20) and 18-year-old Shorna, who together have taken more wickets than Khatun. Against Sri Lanka, both youngsters were preferred over Khatun – a call that paid off, as they shared five wickets between them.”Among the eight teams in this World Cup, we’re the only one with three legspinners and all three are different types,” Khatun had said before the Sri Lanka match. “As a senior, I always try to collaborate with them and encourage them. They’re very young and crucial for our team. I often tell them, ‘You’re better than me; I have a lot to learn from you.’ Having three different kinds of legspinners is a big advantage for us.”Shorna Akter have been one of the standout players for Bangladesh in the tournament•ICC/Getty ImagesAt home, Bangladesh’s players feature in two main domestic tournaments, the Women’s Dhaka Premier League and the National Cricket League, both often played on spin-friendly, low-scoring pitches. On the eve of the India game, batter Sobhana Mostary acknowledged that while the level of competition can vary, the domestic structure is slowly improving.”Last ODI World Cup in 2022, only Pinky [Fargana Hoque] scored fifty but in this tournament, you can see around six or seven fifties,” she said. “So, I think that’s an improvement. Scoring a fifty is not easy; I also got my first fifty in this World Cup. If I can keep this consistency, it will help me in the next series. Similarly, [Sharmin Akhter] Supta has been performing well for a long time.”Now our domestic tournament is going good. In [Dhaka] Premier League among ten teams, six teams are good enough but four teams are like 50 – 50. Five years ago, two-three teams were good. But now five to six teams are good. Before, most players came from North Bengal, but now we have players from Chattogram and Sylhet as well. Maybe their parents are also watching the matches now. I think most people in Bangladesh are following this World Cup, which is a great inspiration for us. It motivates us to fight against stronger teams. That’s it, everyone is watching and supporting us, and that means a lot.”Bangladesh are yet to see one of their players feature in either the WBBL or WPL. Mostary hopes that changes soon.”In WPL, every time we send our name, they are not [okay to] pick a Bangladeshi. But we are thinking about this tournament – like Marufa [is] doing very good in Indian conditions. And Rabeya is also very bowling good this tournament. So maybe in the upcoming WPL they are [picked].”Bangladesh will leave the tournament with more heartbreaks than wins, but also with signs of growth. Among bottom-ranked sides, few have shown as much promise, or left as many almosts behind.

Strasbourg captain Emanuel Emegha, who is set to join Chelsea in the summer, has been handed a one-match ban by his current club and will miss their next game against Toulouse in Ligue 1. Strasbourg have issued a statement explaining their decision is due to the player's recent failure to "respect the club's values, expectations and rules".

Emegha in the spotlight at Strasbourg

Emegha has come under the spotlight in Strasbourg for his recent behaviour. The captain first raised eyebrows with comments made after the team's recent 2-0 victory over Lille, a match in which he scored both goals. After the game, it was pointed out to Emegha that the win was Lille's first against top opposition and he replied by joking that it was because he had missed his team's fixtures with Monaco, PSG, Lyon, and Rennes, according to .

The report claims that the 22-year-old also riled the club during an interview with when he said he thought Strasbourg was in Germany before he joined the French club two years ago.

Emegha has since spoken to the club's management, including coach Liam Rosenior and sporting director David Weir, and the decision has been made to sanction the captain for his behaviour and remind him of the team's values.

AdvertisementAFPStrasbourg issue statement on Emegha

A statement from the club read: "Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace has decided to suspend Emmanuel Emegha for its next Ligue 1 match, this Saturday December 6 in Toulouse. This decision was taken following the player's recent failure to respect the club's values, expectations and rules. Racing reaffirms its commitment to the essential principles of exemplary conduct and respect for the collective framework. Emmanuel remains an important member of our team, who has always given his all for the club on the pitch. He will be reintegrated into the squad after this match. No further comments will be made."

Emegha heading to Chelsea in 2026

This does look to be Emegha's last season at Strasbourg as a deal has been agreed for the striker to move to their sister club Chelsea in 2026. Emegha will sign a seven-year deal at Stamford Bridge in a move that has already generated controversy.

Strasbourg fans turned on their striker earlier this season when the deal was announced, booing him during a fixture against Le Havre and holding up banners that read: "megha, pawn of BlueCo. After changing shirt, give back your captain's armband." 

Manager Rosenior admitted afterwards that Emegha had been left "devastated" by the fans' strong reaction to the news.

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'Everybody knows my personality'

Emegha has previously spoken about his decision to swap Strasbourg for Chelsea. He told reporters: "Strasbourg gave me the opportunity to develop and to get to the level that I am today, and I’m not finished developing or growing. I’m really grateful to the club and the supporters for everything they have done for me. I just want to focus 100% on Strasbourg until the end of the season, and then I will leave. I don’t want there to be rumours or distractions for my team or for me, so I think this is the best decision to bring it out now.

"Everybody knows my personality. It’s not because people know I’m leaving that I will change my behaviour or my work ethic. I’m someone who gives 100% every day for the team and for the club, and I’ll keep doing this until the end.

"I had opportunities to go to other European top clubs that play in the Champions League. I spoke with Chelsea, with Strasbourg and with BlueCo about what would be best for my career. We had open discussions and agreed that the best decision was for me to stay in Strasbourg for one more year, to lead the team in Europe, to write another piece of history here, and then go to Chelsea."

India have once again returned to demanding early turn, but they could be underestimating how much more aware and better equipped visiting teams have become

Philander: ‘On that surface 123 was like 350-400’

Over the three days of the first India-South Africa Test match and its aftermath, a tricky, up-and-down pitch at Eden Gardens has triggered two parallel debates.One, already discussed on these pages, is whether such pitches are good for Test cricket.The other, which gained urgency as South Africa pressed home the decisive advantage they gained on the third morning, is whether such pitches are good for India. Is it really in their best interests to roll out tracks that turn sharply, and offer uneven bounce, from day one?Related

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India certainly think so. Gautam Gambhir, their head coach, has made it clear that he and the rest of India’s team management had asked curator Sujan Mukherjee for a surface along the lines of what they got.”This is what we asked for, and this is what we got,” Gambhir said in his post-match press conference. “I thought the curator was very supportive. And I still believe that irrespective of how the wicket was, 123 [124] was chaseable. And I felt that if you are willing to put your head down, and if you have a solid defence, if you have the temperament, you can definitely score runs.”Yes, it might not be a wicket which is going to [allow you to] be very, very flamboyant, where you can play those big shots. But if you are willing to put your head down, definitely it’s a wicket where you can score.”Is the pressure mounting on Gambhir, the red-ball coach?

Score, here, had to be a relative term. Neither team passed 200 over the four innings, and Temba Bavuma scored the only half-century of the match, his unbeaten third-innings 55 helping South Africa set a target of 124 that proved well beyond India in fourth-innings conditions where run-scoring and survival were both fraught with risk.While there were generous amounts of turn on offer from the first afternoon itself, the factor that made batting especially challenging was uneven bounce, which meant batters could never feel settled at the crease. There were 12 scores of over 20, but only one above 40.”This is exactly the pitch we were looking for,” Gambhir reiterated, when asked if the uneven bounce had surprised him. “And I feel that, as I just mentioned before, that the curator was very, very helpful. And this is exactly what we wanted. And this is exactly what we got. When you don’t play well, this is what happens.”Over the last decade, India have tended to go back and forth over their preference of pitches for home Tests. In 2015, when they were a young, up-and-coming team taking on a South Africa side with a proud away record, they won a four-Test series 3-0, with two of the Tests played on square turners. This proved to be a one-off, as India built a formidable home record over the next half-decade or so on pitches that usually allowed both teams to post sizeable first-innings totals.Simon Harmer picked up eight wickets in the Kolkata Test•BCCIThe first home Test of the post-pandemic period, at Chennai in 2021, however, made India rethink their strategy, as England won a Test match on the back of a massive first-innings total that India weren’t able to get close to. Then, the pitch was benign on day one but began to offer sharp turn even before India began their first innings; winning the toss gave England a massive advantage.It was here that India went back to asking curators for pitches that turned from day one, in the belief that these surfaces would minimise toss advantage.Gambhir echoed this sentiment on Sunday. “We have always said we want turning wickets where the ball turns a little on day one so that the toss doesn’t become an important factor. We’ve never said we want to play on bad wickets or rank turners. Ultimately, if we had won, we wouldn’t be speaking about the pitch this much.”That Gambhir retained his belief that turning tracks minimised the effect of the toss was interesting, considering India’s recent results on such pitches. They have lost the toss in each of their last three home Tests on tracks with early turn – against New Zealand in Pune and Mumbai last year, and now against South Africa – and have gone on to lose each match.Losing the toss has meant India have had to bat fourth on all three occasions. This is usually a disadvantage even on flatter subcontinental pitches. Pitches that offer turn and/or uneven bounce early on often give teams their only real window of straightforward batting conditions — which could last for as little as one session — on day one, and amplify the treachery of batting fourth.Gambhir: ‘This was not an unplayable wicket’

How might Pune, Mumbai and Kolkata have played out if India had won the toss and batted first?There is one counter-argument, though, which comes from India’s series against Australia in early 2023. In that series, which pitted two relatively evenly-matched spin-bowling units, batting second seemed to give teams a bit of an advantage, because early moisture in the first session of the match often made the ball turn alarmingly, before the pitch settled down somewhat.Asked about this after India lost the third Test in Indore — where Australia’s spinners made deadly use of that first-session moisture — their then captain Rohit Sharma said he too had pondered the question of whether there was an advantage to batting second on such pitches, without coming to a decisive conclusion. “Again it tells you that toss is not a factor at all in this series,” he said. “You’ve got to bring your best skills, play best cricket and win the game.”It could well be the case, notwithstanding recent results, that pitches that turn sharply, and early, by and large advantage the team winning the toss less than flat pitches that begin breaking up on day two or three. Gambhir’s belief only reiterates similar thoughts expressed by previous coaches and captains stretching at least as far back as 2012, when MS Dhoni called for pitches that turned from day one during a home series against England. He made this plea after India had a Test against England on a slow, low, flat pitch in Ahmedabad.”I don’t even want to see this wicket,” Dhoni had said. “There wasn’t enough turn and bounce for the spinners… Hopefully in the coming matches we’ll see the wicket turn, right from start, or as soon as possible so that the toss doesn’t become vital.”A thread runs directly from Dhoni 13 years ago to Gambhir now, and every team management along the way has also subscribed to the broad idea that the toss matters less on square turners than on flat pitches.That’s the Test – Keshav Maharaj leads the celebrations•Getty ImagesThe recent history of square turners in India presents one other observable pattern. They have tended to occur in series where India rate their oppositions highly, such as the 2015 series against South Africa. The series against Australia in 2017, which came at the end of a long home season played mostly on flat pitches, began on such a pitch in Pune, where a defeat made them veer away from that gameplan.In 2023, India went 2-0 up against Australia on sharp turners, before a defeat in the third Test in Indore led them to close out the series with a high-scoring draw on an Ahmedabad shirtfront. Now, after two Tests against West Indies on pitches enabling big scores in the first innings, India have once again returned to demanding early turn. They respect South Africa, and they don’t want to take any chances.In respecting their opposition in this manner, however, India could be underestimating just how much more aware and better equipped visiting teams have become over recent years. Australia in 2023, England and New Zealand last year, and South Africa now have all arrived with players who are more experienced, possess better attributes for the conditions, or both, than most previous touring teams from those countries. Simon Harmer and Keshav Maharaj, for example, aren’t just skillful fingerspinners; they’re both on their second Test tours of India, and bring knowledge gained over long careers that have taken them to all parts of the world, including two recent subcontinent tours. Giving them conditions that add fangs to their bowling may not be in India’s best interests.And in doing this, India may be underestimating just how good their own bowlers are on normal Indian pitches. In Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav, they have the world’s best fast-bowling wicket-taker and the world’s best spin-bowling wicket-taker in conditions with minimal help for seam or spin. In Mohammed Siraj, they have a quick, skillful operator who is dangerous with new ball and old, and can pound away on good lengths relentlessly without losing his intensity. In Ravindra Jadeja, they have one of India’s greatest-ever fingerspinners, and if Washington Sundar and Axar Patel aren’t yet as rounded as he is, they come close to matching him for control. All three are genuine batters as well.Against this, in Kolkata, South Africa had an attack that had Harmer, Maharaj and the hugely gifted left-arm quick Marco Jansen, but they were without their best fast bowler, Kagiso Rabada, and had Wiaan Mulder, a batting allrounder, taking the new ball in the first innings. This attack certainly did not match India’s for depth or variety in Indian conditions. And certainly not for experience in Indian conditions.There was a distinct gap between these attacks, on paper, and India narrowed it with their choice of pitch. They had done the same thing last year, against New Zealand, with devastating consequences. They chose to do it again.There’s something to admire in India’s bull-headed belief in their pitch strategy. But is it really doing their cause any good?

Tottenham Hotspur have not been good enough this season, and it’s clear that Thomas Frank needs to find a solution both in regard to results and the excitement factor that has been lacking.

Having lost each of their past three matches in all competitions, including the miserable home loss against Fulham on Saturday evening in the Premier League, a response is sorely needed, but Newcastle United at St. James’ Park has hardly been a happy hunting ground for the Lilywhites in recent years.

Frank’s tactics have yet to click together, but the players also need to take responsibility for their shoddy showings, with Pedro Porro among the guilty members to have flattered to deceive all term.

Pedro Porro's Spurs form this season

Porro, 26, is one of the most talented right-backs in Europe. He has played 126 matches for Tottenham, scoring 11 goals and supplying 23 assists.

The Spaniard’s gloomy, incensed demeanour at full-time on Saturday was indicative of the wider malaise at the club, but he surely must hold his hands up and acknowledge that he wasn’t good enough, with Sofascore recording that he found the mark with only three of 16 attempted crosses, losing eight of 11 duels and being caught out numerous times.

It was, frankly, a pitiful first-half performance, with Porro utterly toothless in his creative role and more than susceptible against the rampant Samuel Chukwueze and beaten far too easily in the build-up to Kenny Tete’s opening goal after just a few minutes.

He was hardly the only one to hang his head in shame, though, with his counterpart on the left serving up an equally frustrating performance.

Spurs defender is now becoming a liability

At his best, Destiny Udogie is a machine. Ferociously athletic, fleet-footed on the ball and attuned in crucial defence phases, he took the Lilywhites faithful’s breath away when he charged the left side of Postecoglou’s system during the halycon days of 2023/24, before things went wrong.

Indeed, when he burst onto the scene as a teenager under Postecoglou’s wing, journalist Hunter Godson remarked that he was “sickeningly good” and would get into “nearly every team in the world already”.

Such was his power and pace and balance down the left lane that he was considered by Clinton Morrison on BBC Sport to be “the best left-back” in the country during that first foray into English football.

But it might be fair to say that Udogie has yet to raise his game in the Premier League. Sure, he’s been unfortunate with injuries, but this is now his third season in English football and he is no longer an up-and-coming prospect but a talented member of the first team who is expected to provide an outlet while protecting his box.

Goals scored

0.08

0.00

Assists

0.11

0.17

Shot-creating actions

2.15

2.25

Touches

66.81

69.71

Pass completion (%)

85.8

85.0

Progressive passes

5.83

5.72

Progressive carries

3.12

3.47

Successful take-ons

0.90

0.52

Ball recoveries

6.36

5.72

Tackles + interceptions

3.95

2.43

Clearances

3.01

Aerials won

0.83

0.69

It may take a moment to look at the various elements of Udogie’s game, but it’s worth a closer inspection, with Udogie yet to raise his creative levels and indeed provide greater security at the back.

In fact, as per Sofascore, he has only completed 30% of his dribbles and won half of his duels in the Premier League this year.

This remains a talented full-back with the capacity to perform as one of the best in the division, but Udogie is not pulling his weight right now, and it’s clear to see that Frank’s system is being hindered by the lackadaisical performances of Udogie and Porro, two wide players who are considered among the most talented in the country, if not the continent.

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