Women's World Cup 2025: Bangladesh coach Sarwar Imran suffers brain stroke ahead of opener against Pakistan

Bangladesh women's team head coach Sarwar Imran suffered a minor brain stroke during practice on Monday (Sep 29) in Colombo. Bangladesh are in Colombo for the Women's World Cup 2025 where they start the campaign on Thursday (Oct 2) against Pakistan Women. Imran is expected to join the team before the Pakistan match after being asked to rest. Imran took over the responsibility as the head coach earlier this year when Hasan Tillakaratne quit the job. He has also served as the head coach of the Bangladesh men's team in 2000 when the Asian team played its first Test match.

BAN-W women's coach suffers stroke

According to Bangladesh women's team manager SM Golam Faiyaz, Imran felt a bit dizzy a couple of days ago, but now is in stable condition. He confirmed the news of stroke to cricket news website ESPNCricinfo. "(Sarwar) Imran sir was feeling dizzy a couple of days ago, and it continued on Monday. We took him to the hospital where the doctors detected he had a minor brain stroke," said Faiyaz. "We asked sir to rest today," Faiyaz said. "He is hopeful of going to the ground with us tomorrow (Wednesday)," he further added.

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BAN-W in Women's World Cup

Bangladesh women are playing in the Women's World Cup only for the second time after scraping through the qualifiers. They had first played in the quadrennial event in 2022. BAN-W start their campaign against Pakistan women on Thursday (Oct 2). They next play against England women on October 7, New Zealand women on October 10, South Africa women on October 13, Australia women on October 16, Sri Lanka women on October 20, and India women in final group stage match on October 26. All of Bangladesh women team's matches will be held in India apart from their campaign opener against Pakistan.