In a rather surprising twist, Bangladesh made history by registering a first-ever victory against Pakistan in Test cricket and that too in style by winning the first Test by 10 wickets. This is a great achievement for Bangladesh who had never tasted a Test victory against Pakistan in their 13 previous outings where they lost 12 and drew one. The first Test match at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium started with Pakistan, being given the option to field.
The home side was struggling at one point when they were reduced to 16/3 but the players came back strongly as Saud Shakeel scored 141 and Mohammad Rizwan 171*. Pakistan declared their first innings at 448/6, which was a decision that was to be criticised later on. Bangladesh also came hard at them and scored a staggering 565 in their first innings and Mushfiqur Rahim played a knock of 191. Other useful contributions were made by Shadman Islam who scored 93 runs and Mehidy Hasan Miraz who scored 77 runs. But the second innings of Pakistan was a disaster. The team was reduced to 146 runs, Bangladesh’s spin pair Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Shakib Al Hasan tearing through the Pakistani side.
Mehidy Hasan claimed 4-21 and Shakib Al Hasan 3-44 which made it easy for Bangladesh to chase a target of 30. The visitors were able to realize this target with a lot of ease in the 6th minute. 3 overs, thus making it a record-breaking 10-wicket win for the men. The defeat has been heavily criticised especially with regards to Pakistan’s selection and tactics. Pakistan decided to go for an all-pace bowling with part time specialist spinners and this proved costly because the playing conditions were not suitable for the seam bowlers as expected.
The Pakistan side’s captain, Shan Masood, was the one who said that they failed to understand the conditions of the pitch and expected their pacers to do much better. ‘We didn’t underestimate Bangladesh but the wicket did not behave as we thought it would,’ Masood said in a post-match interview. He also suggested that there could be changes in the team line up. Former India opener Aakash Chopra also did not spare Pakistan and criticized their poor decision-making skills. "Not many teams go to lose a Test match after declaring their first innings with 400+ runs and 4 wickets to spare.
At Home. Pakistan cricket is a gift that keeps giving," Chopra wrote on X. This defeat comes as misfortune to Pakistan as the team has now slipped down to eighth position in the nine team World Test Championship point table while Bangladesh has risen to sixth.
