Nida Dar looks ahead to winning start in Bangladesh

Nida Dar-led Pakistan women’s cricket team is all set to take on Bangladesh in their own backyard from Wednesday when both sides meet in the first of the three-T20I series at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram.

The second and third T20Is will be played at the same venue on 27 and 29 October. The T20I series will be followed by three ODIs, which are also part of the ICC Women’s Championship 2022-25. The ODI series will be played at Shere Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka on 4, 7 and 10 November.

Both T20I and ODI series will be live-streamed on BCB YouTube channel. The toss for the T20I matches will take place at 1600 local time, while the first ball will be bowled at 1630 local time. Meanwhile, the matches of the ODI series will begin at 0930 local time, while the toss will take place at 0900 local time.

Pakistan, who occupy the eighth spot in the ICC Women’s T20I rankings are above over ninth positioned Bangladesh. In 17 T20Is played between both sides, Pakistan women have won 15 T20Is, while Bangladesh have emerged victorious only on two occasions. Bangladesh’s first win against Pakistan came in an Asia Cup match in 2018, while the hosts’ second win over Pakistan came in the recently held bronze medal match in the Asian Games last month.

In the last bilateral series played between both sides, Pakistan whitewashed Bangladesh 3-0 in Lahore in October 2019.

In the batting department, Pakistan will be relying on former captain Bismah Maroof, as she has scored 379 runs from 13 matches against Bangladesh at an average of 75.80, which includes two half-centuries. Opening batter Sidra Amin, who is currently the leading run-getter in ICC Women’s Championship 2022-25 with 634 runs, has made 113 runs in five T20Is against Bangladesh at an average of 37.66, including one half-century.

All-rounder Nida Dar has contributed 101 runs with the bat, but most importantly, the captain has taken 16 wickets from 14 T20I matches against Bangladesh.

In the bowling department in games against Bangladesh, left-arm spinners Nashra Sundhu and Sadia Iqbal have eight and six wickets to their name, respectively, while right-arm fast bowler Diana Baig has taken seven wickets from six matches at an economy rate of 4.80.

On the eve of the T20I series, Nida Dar talked about the team’s preparations and how as a captain she is looking forward to win her second consecutive bilateral T20I series. Nida said, “Our goal is to play positive and fearless cricket. We successfully adopted this approach in the series against South Africa at home, which helped us win the T20I series. Now, we intend to employ the same strategy.

“It is unfortunate that we couldn’t play the T20 match [against BCB XI] on Monday due to rain, but we have adapted well to the conditions in our practice sessions we had here. I am confident the players will play to their strengths and I hope for a positive result in the series.

 “We respect the Bangladesh women's team, and we know they are a competitive side in their backyard. They recently beat us in the Asian Games, so we recognise the presence of some great players in their side. Our approach in the series will be simple, we will take one game at a time.”

Pakistan squad:

Nida Dar (captain), Aliya Riaz, Bismah Maroof, Diana Baig, Ghulam Fatima, Iram Javed, Muneeba Ali (wk), Najiha Alvi (wk), Nashra Sundhu, Natalia Parvaiz, Sadaf Shamas, Sadia Iqbal, Sidra Amin, Umm-e-Hani and Waheeda Akhtar

Player support personnel: Nahida Khan (manager), Mauhtashim Rashid (interim head coach), Saleem Jaffar (bowling coach), Taufiq Umar (batting coach), Muhammad Asfand Yar (strength and conditioning coach), Syed Nazir Ahmed (media manager), Rifat Asghar Gill (physiotherapist) and Zubair Ahmed (analyst)

Tour schedule:

25 Oct: First T20I at ZACS, Chattogram (Match starts at 4:30pm local time)

27 Oct: Second T20I at ZACS, Chattogram (Match starts at 4:30pm local time)

29 Oct: Third T20I at ZACS, Chattogram (Match starts at 4:30pm local time)

04 Nov: First ODI at SBNCS, Mirpur (Match starts at 9:30am local time)

07 Nov: Second ODI at SBNCS, Mirpur (Match starts at 9:30am local time)

10 Nov: Third ODI at SBNCS, Mirpur (Match starts at 9:30am local time)