Bangladesh Women's coach suffers minor stroke at World Cup

Bangladesh women's head coach Sarwar Imran suffered a minor stroke on Monday in Colombo, where the team is preparing for their World Cup opener against Pakistan.

Team manager SM Golam Faiyaz confirmed the news to ESPNcricinfo, stating that Imran is now in a stable condition.

"(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.

The manager said that Imran was released from the hospital on Tuesday. He is now recuperating in the team hotel, although he wanted to join Tuesday's training session.

"We asked sir to rest today," Faiyaz said. "He is hopeful of going to the ground with us tomorrow (Wednesday)."

Imran, aged 66, was appointed the women's head coach in February this year, after Hashan Tillakaratne, the former Sri Lanka captain, left the role earlier in the year.

Imran was also the men's coach when the Bangladesh team played their inaugural Test in 2000.

Bangladesh open their World Cup campaign against Pakistan in Colombo on Thursday. It will be their second appearance at the tournament, having made their debut in 2022 and scraped through qualifying for this year's event.