Dhaka, March 20 -- After becoming captain of the Bangladesh women's team, Nigar Sultana has attended countless press conferences. But Wednesday's one will surely stand out in her memory for a long time.

She arrived with a broad smile, ready with her team to face the world champions-Australia, in their first-ever full series. The number of attending media personnel was unlike anything she had experienced before. More importantly, none of the questions thrown at her doubted Bangladesh's ability to challenge Australia.

"The biggest thing is, when we played the series against India, the journalists' questions were different. They were asking whether we could win, what could happen... Today, we are playing against Australia, and no one has a...