Nida Dar keen to take up more responsibilities as personal milestone awaits

first T20I on Wednesday (June 30). Dar, who currently has 99 wickets in the shortest format, needs just one wicket to join the likes of Anisa Mohammed, Ellyse Perry, Shabnim Ismail and Anya Shrubsole at the 100-wicket club in the format.

Dar, who made her debut in the format during the T20 World Cup 2010 in West Indies, has represented Pakistan in 105 T20Is in her career so far. She talked about the excitement of the impending milestone as she reflected on her more than a decade-long career.

“Cricket is a funny game. It gives you more sad days than happy ones, but still one cannot stop being passionate about it," Dar said on Monday (June 28). “Definitely, the day I achieve the milestone of becoming the first Pakistan bowler with 100 T20I wickets, it would be one of the happy ones. Certainly, I am excited to be nearing a milestone. The aim, however, remains to make it special for my teammates, coaches and the whole country by winning that match.”

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The 34-year-old Dar is also the third-highest T20I run-scorer for Pakistan with 1,152 runs, only behind Bismah Maroof and Javeria Khan. She will start the T20I series against West Indies as the number ten ranked T20 allrounder. Pakistan last played international cricket during their tour of South Africa early this year while West Indies haven't played any international matches since travelling to England for five-match T20I series September last year.

“As an allrounder and a senior player in the team, I am looking forward to execute my responsibility of winning the matches for my side. West Indies might be ranked sixth and we seventh, but the rankings do not really matter to me because the results are defined by how a team performs at the day," she said.

Pakistan have a busy schedule ahead as their major assignment includes playing in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers 2022 scheduled to be played in Sri Lanka in December this year and later in the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham.

“This series is a good opportunity for us to win here and it will certainly help us in our preparations for the three major events – World Cup qualifiers, Women’s World Cup and Commonwealth Games," Dar concluded.