Nahida Akter is Bangladesh’s premier left-arm spinner, and the board has now made her second-in-command across two of the year’s biggest assignments. The 25-year-old from Kishoreganj already held the deputy’s armband through the T20 World Cup cycle, so this confirms rather than creates her standing. She debuted for Bangladesh at just 14, and has since built one of the country’s most consistent bowling careers in either format. Nigar Sultana Joty keeps the captaincy, with the pair now leading the squad toward Dubai and then Japan.
Nahida Akter Asia Cup Vice-Captain
The BCB’s official statement named the leadership group for both assignments in one line: Nigar Sultana Joty as captain, Akter as her deputy. The announcement landed on August 17, with the pairing set to lead Bangladesh through the continental tournament in Dubai and the Asian Games assignment in Japan.
This wasn’t a new appointment so much as a formal reconfirmation. Akter had already deputised through the T20 World Cup qualifier in January, the World Cup itself in May, and the home series against Sri Lanka that followed. Her vice-captaincy stretches back further still, to a home series against Pakistan in late 2023.
No BCB official put out a quote specifically framing the reasoning behind keeping her in the role, beyond the wire reports confirming the appointment. What the board did stress is continuity at the top, with Joty’s captaincy explicitly carrying on rather than being reviewed. It leaves both leadership roles settled well before a squad boards flights for two different continents inside a month.
A Deputy Built On Numbers
The numbers explain why the board never seriously considered handing this job to anyone else. Akter reached 200 international wickets in June, picking up the milestone with figures of four for eighteen in a World Cup contest against Pakistan at the Rose Bowl. That tally sits across 81 one-day wickets and 119 in the shorter format, built over a career that started when she made her debut at just fourteen.
Recent form backs the numbers up. She was Bangladesh’s leading wicket-taker in the home series against Sri Lanka earlier this year with six scalps, and she has twice been named Player of the Series against Pakistan, in one series taking seven one-day wickets and eight in the T20 leg. Her best-ever figures, five for twelve against Kenya, remain a national record. She also holds a second five-wicket haul, five for twenty-one against Zimbabwe, giving her two separate five-fors in senior cricket.
The Full Squad For Both Assignments
BCB picked the same 15 for both assignments, headed by Joty and Akter. The rest of the squad: Dilara Akter, Juairiya Ferdous, Sharmin Akter Supta, Sarmin Sultana, Sobhana Mostary, Shorna Akter, Ritu Moni, Fahima Khatun, Rabeya Khan, Marufa Akter, Sultana Khatun, Shanjida Akther Maghla and Fariha Islam Trisna.
The one change from the World Cup squad is Sarmin Sultana’s recall, coming back in for Taj Nehar after missing selection since May. The bowling attack leans heavily on spin, with Akter joined by Fahima Khatun and Rabeya Khan, while Marufa Akter spearheads the pace department and gets support from Ritu Moni and Fariha Islam Trisna. That balance of experienced spin and rising pace options gives the think tank flexibility depending on conditions in Dubai.
Bangladesh open the Asia Cup against Indonesia on August 31 in Dubai, sitting in a group alongside defending champions Sri Lanka and hosts UAE.
The Bigger Picture Ahead For Bangladesh
Joty has been vocal about breaking Bangladesh’s semi-final ceiling, a barrier the side has hit and bounced off more than once in this competition. She has framed reaching the final as the group’s central aim this time, rather than treating a last-four finish as success on its own.
The Asian Games double adds another layer. A medal in Aichi-Nagoya, gold ideally, sits alongside the Dubai assignment as a stated priority, and Joty has suggested a strong showing in one event should carry momentum into the other. Bangladesh face China in the quarter-final on September 17.
None of that ambition rests on one player alone, but the leadership pairing now steering it is set. With Nahida Akter’s Asia Cup vice-captain duties confirmed, Bangladesh head into a five-week stretch that could define their year in either format.