Nida Dar named Pakistan women's team captain

Nida Dar has been appointed as the Pakistan women’s team's new captain. She will replace outgoing Bisma Maroof who stepped down after the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2023 in South Africa.

Nida won the PCB Women’s Cricketer of the Year for 2021 and is one of the most experienced players in the country, having represented Pakistan in 130 T20Is and 99 ODIs.

She is also the leading wicket-taker in T20I women’s cricket with 126 wickets to her name.

Nida was also a member of the Pakistan side that won the Asian Games gold in 2010 and 2014 in Guangzhou, China, and Incheon, South Korea. In 2019, she became the first Pakistan women’s cricketer to feature in Australia’s women’s franchise cricket.

In another development, Mark Coles was confirmed as the head coach, and former Test cricketer Saleem Jaffar the chair of the Women’s Selection Committee.

All appointments were approved by PCB Management Committee chairman Najam Sethi, the cricket board said in a statement.

“The appointments have been made in light of the PCB’s vision and strategy to invest further into women’s cricket and keeping in mind the upcoming international assignments, including hosting South Africa and tours to Bangladesh and New Zealand for the ICC Women’s Championship 2022-25 fixtures,” the statement said.

Overall, in an 11-month period from August 2023 to July 2024, Pakistan women’s team is scheduled to play five bilateral cricket series comprising a total of 15 ICC Women’s Championship 2022-25 ODIs. In addition to these 50-over matches, Pakistan will play as many as 17 T20Is. These ODIs and T20Is will lead to the 10-team ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in Bangladesh and the eight-team ICC Women’s World Cup in India, which will be held in 2024 and 2025, respectively.