By the time the last week started, Pakistan was in the fifth position in the ongoing third cycle of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25, before the start of their home season with a two-match Test series against Bangladesh. A comfortable series victory would have given them an outside chance to qualify for the tournament’s final.
At the end of the series, Pakistan will host England for a three-match Test series against England in late autumn, before they make their trip to South Africa for another two-match red-ball series towards the end of the year. Upon arrival back at home, they will host West Indies for the two-match series.
So far in this cycle, the only series win for them was in Sri Lanka during June 2023, under the captaincy of Babar Azam. Later, they decided to change the leadership, as under Shan Masood, they were blown away in the three-match series in Australia.
Pakistan dreams to qualify for their maiden WTC final in 2023-25
The first of the two-match series at home against Bangladesh didn’t go as planned for the home side, as they lost the Test at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium by 10 wickets, the very first one of the format against this opponent.
Also Read: Conspiracy Behind Removing Virat Kohli As Test Captain? Sanjay Bangar Reveals Shocker
Losing the toss, they were invited to bat first on what seemed to be the flattest surfaces in the world. But, the new ball swung in a little at the start, as the Bangladesh pacers were taking full advantage of the situation. There was the need to rescue themselves from the critical situation.
The 98-run stand between Saim Ayub, who cracked a fine half-century, and Saud Shakeel for the fourth wicket, as the latter posted another 240-run partnership for the fifth wicket with wicket-keeper batter, Mohammad Rizwan, where both of them celebrated huge centuries to help the side reaching 448/6, before declaring.
At that point, it felt like Pakistan had displayed some wonderful batting skills in the game, while a few questioned if they needed to show some intent, especially towards the end of the first innings. Bangladesh didn’t start well too, losing a couple of early wickets in their innings.
The visiting opener Shadman Islam showed his class with a 93-run knock, arranged with 12 boundaries, while Mominul Haque too notched up 50 runs. Litton Das showed his aggression by smashing the ball all around the park for his 56-run knock at a strike rate of over 70. But the veteran wicket-keeper batter and the former captain of the side, Mushfiqur Rahim, missed out on what could be a special double century.
Pakistan crumbled in their second innings for just 146 runs, as apart from Rizwan’s 51-run knock and the 37 decent runs from Abdullah Shafique, none of the batters could stand up in the crease. The defeat dropped them down to eighth posting among the nine teams at 30.56% with two wins in six games.
Also Read: England To Miss Mark Wood For Sri Lanka Series; Replacement Named For Last 2 Tests
If they win all of their remaining eight games, then their percentage will rise to 70.24, which should be enough to reach the final of the tournament, as the current favorites- India and Australia- are going to take on each other in a five-match series later this year.
If India wins eight of their ten remaining games of the WTC, then Pakistan can’t leapfrog them. Meanwhile, Australia must win six of their remaining seven games to guarantee a spot over the Green Brigade. Two of those games are in Sri Lanka.
The second and final red-ball game for Pakistan starts on August 30 at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, in Islamabad.
