We will give our best against India in semifinal: Nahida

Bangladesh vice-captain Nahida Akter vowed to give their best against India in the first semifinal of the ongoing Women's T20 Asia Cup at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium in Dambulla on Friday.

"The semifinal is really important for me and the team. We will try to give our best. We will focus on all three departments and try to do our best in all of them," Nahida told reporters in Dambulla after their practice session on the eve of the semifinal clash against India.

The Tigresses will take on seven-time champions India to seal their second ever final in the regional competition, having previously played the final in 2018, when they eventually won the title by beating India in a nail-biting match in Malaysia.

Bangladesh came into the competition having won no games in the format this year and after getting clinically outplayed by Australia and India in separate home series.

The Tigresses began their campaign with a seven-wicket defeat to hosts Sri Lanka but bounced back strongly by winning their remaining two Group B matches against Thailand and Malaysia to book a place in the last four.

Nahida, who is the joint leading wicket-taker for Bangladesh in the ongoing meet alongside Rabeya Khan with five wickets each, said that a win over India in a 'pressure' game like a semifinal would boost their confidence for the upcoming ICC Women's T20 World Cup, scheduled to be held in Bangladesh on October 3-20.

"A semifinal is always a pressure game. If you lose this, you are out of the tournament… Of course, if we can beat a strong team like India right before a World Cup, it will give our team a lot of confidence," said Nahida, who is just one dismissal shy of becoming the first Bangladeshi to take 100 wickets in WT20Is.

"I never thought about it. I always tried to do my best in whatever role my team asked of me. I don't think too much about when I would get that wicket, sometimes you need luck to favour you to take a wicket. Alhamdulillah, I have taken 99 wickets. I want to play many more matches and take many more wickets for the country," she added.

Meanwhile, India have enjoyed an unbeaten run in the tournament, registering comprehensive victories in their three group matches against Pakistan, the UAE and Nepal.

Opener Shafali Verma, who is the second highest run-getter in the meet with 158 runs and also has the highest strike-rate of 166.32, expressed her satisfaction with their overall performance so far in the tournament but remained cautious about Bangladesh.

"We are really happy with the way all of us have gelled with each other and the way we have been winning matches. The semifinal is really important for us… First of all, we will keep our focus on the Bangladesh game, then focus on Sri Lanka," she said on Thursday ahead of their semi clash.