Nida Dar: We need more international matches and championships to be competitive

versatile Nida Dar called for more opportunities for Pakistani players at international and domestic levels to bridge the gap between them and the best in the world.

Pakistan are currently touring Australia with significant margins of defeat in the first two ODIs – eight wickets and ten wickets – although they are far from the only ones to suffer this at the hands of the immense strength and depth of the home side. Last year they reached the Asian Cup semi-final where they lost by one point to Sri Lanka after beating India in the group stage.

Dar, who previously played for Sydney Thunder in the 2019 WBBL, had the better scores in both games with 59 and 24 – sadly being exhausted in game two when a direct drive deflected Kim Garth’s fingers in the stubs of the non-attacker – after starting the tour with 4 for 46 against Governor General’s XI.

“We need more games to minimize the gap to the top teams,” Dar said in Sydney ahead of the ODI final. “We always wanted to play competitively [cricket] and we can only improve when we play a lot of games against the best teams.

“I always wanted to play in Australia and share the experience, learn from [them], but the fact is that as a team we need more exposure and more games against Australia. We’re certainly learning a lot and that’s what we want.”

Women’s football is about to experience a watershed moment with the launch of WIPL in March. The TV rights were sold this week for a colossal sum, which is equivalent to almost a million US dollars per game and there is a lot of interest in how the auction will go with Australians expected to feature prominently.

However, Pakistani players will not be able to participate in this competition given the current political situation between the two countries, which makes other opportunities in the world even more important for them.

Key to this is the launch of the Pakistan Women’s T20 League, which was meant to take place alongside the men’s PSL but has now been pushed back under new PCB management with the expectation that it can start in its own window in September.

That would put it around the same time as the WCPL, which started last season as three events and featured Pakistani seamstress Fatima Sana, and after the Hundred in the UK, which has become one of major world leagues. The WBBL continues to sit in a time slot from October to November. As the Pakistani league continues to take shape, Dar said it was vital that more players get chances abroad.

“It’s really very important for Pakistani female players to play in international leagues like Big Bash or Hundred to improve,” she said. “We have potential, we had three players of the month for ICC [last year]but we have to show the skills while playing international leagues or series against top teams.

“It’s a very important time for girls, especially in Pakistan, so we need more international matches, more international leagues, so they can grow up earlier so we can have matches and competitive series against the best teams. This is the time when we have to go to different leagues and watch what other players are doing. If we get into the leagues, we can bring that experience back to Pakistan.

While in Australia, the Pakistani players are taking the opportunity to soak up as much information as possible for the home team, as they have done in previous encounters between the teams.

“Whenever we get a chance to meet them, we always talk about cricket, talk about their routines, what they practice,” Dar said. “They are very [helpful] and I know myself, they are very good at it. If you ask them, they’ll always tell you.”

The ODI series will be followed by three T20Is in Sydney, Hobart and Canberra, which are preparing for next month’s T20 World Cup.

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