The cricket rivalry between Pakistan and Bangladesh is one of famous events in cricket history. Pakistan initially prevailed, however by 1998, Bangladesh was emerging as a force to be reckoned with, and they received test status in 2000. Most recently, they have become a real giant killer in the ODI arena, notching up wins against most major nations in white-ball cricket. In this article, we will explore the chronology of fixtures, review milestones and records, and look at how our past has brought us here to this interesting rivalry.

Pakistan vs South Africa Important Matches Timeline

Date	Format	Event / Series	Venue	Result
May 31, 1999	ODI	1999 ICC World Cup	Northampton, England	Bangladesh won by 62 runs
Aug 29 to 31, 2000	Test	Asian Test Championship	Multan, Pakistan	Pakistan won by an innings and 264 runs
Mar 22, 2012	ODI	Asia Cup Final	Mirpur, Bangladesh	Pakistan won by 2 runs
Mar 30, 2014	T20I	2014 ICC T20 World Cup	Mirpur, Bangladesh	Pakistan won 50 runs
Apr 22, 2015	ODI	1st Bilateral ODI Series Win by Bangladesh	Mirpur, Bangladesh	Bangladesh won by 8 wickets
Sep 26, 2018	ODI	Asia Cup Super Four Clash	Abu Dhabi, UAE	Bangladesh won by 37 runs
Jul 5, 2019	ODI	2019 ICC World Cup	Lord’s, London	Pakistan won by 94 runs
Nov 26 to 30, 2021	Test	Babar Azam’s key win in World Test Championship	Chattogram, Bangladesh	Pakistan won by 8 wickets
Oct 7, 2022	T20I	Tri-Series (NZ hosted)	Christchurch, New Zealand	Pakistan won by 21 runs
May 28, 2025	T20I	1st T20I of Bilateral Series	Lahore, Pakistan	Pakistan won by 37 runs
May 30, 2025	T20I	2nd T20I of Bilateral Series	Lahore, Pakistan	Pakistan won by 57 runs

Pakistan National Cricket Team vs Bangladesh National Cricket Team Timeline – Early Encounters (1986-2025)

Early Encounters and Bangladesh’s Emerging Years (1986-1990s)

The first official international match between the two was on March 31st, 1986 in the form of an ODI during the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka. As we know, Pakistan won as they were a full member and well-established cricketing nation. During the early years, although Bangladesh was an Associate Member of the ICC, they were still finding their way in international cricket. Matches against Pakistan were typically one-sided, as Bangladesh was still young in terms of experience and cricketing infrastructure. Pakistan’s batting lineups and bowling attacks were known to dominate the young Bangladeshi team.

Bangladesh was on the right track, though, and, while there was no way of knowing how long it would actually take, they were definitely working towards their ambition of becoming a competitive cricket nation. The start for Bangladesh came with the ICC Trophy win in 1997, which meant that Bangladesh qualified for the 1999 Cricket World Cup.

1999 World Cup and Test Status

The ICC Cricket World Cup in England in 1999 produced one of the defining moments, and great shocks, in the history of Pakistan vs. Bangladesh cricket.. The win was monumental for Bangladesh because it would end up expressing to them that they could indeed “compete” at the International level, and it certainly worked as one of the steps towards their achievement of Test status in June 2000.

More notably, on June 26, 2000 and due to this past cricketing performance and their growing stature within international cricket, Bangladesh was awarded Test status by the ICC. In November 2000, Bangladesh played India in what was now to be their first Test match ever – a perspective defining moment for Bangladeshi cricket as they achieved one of their objectives to be included in the Test-playing club!.

The Era of Pakistani Dominance (Early 2000s – Early 2010s)

Even with Bangladesh’s development, Pakistan had more or less maintained its dominance across all formats for a large period of time following Bangladesh’s Test status. In Test matches Pakistan had a clear supremacy over Bangladesh, and was able to take advantage of a senior bowling attack and newer-looking batting line ups. 

As shown in many ODI games before, Pakistan continued the trend of winning, often with long streaks of winning matches against Bangladesh. Pakistan was ahead in the head-to-head ODI record, with 34 wins to Bangladesh’s 5 out of 39 matches played. Many of these matches had some strong performances from the Pakistanis, and they were often large wins. There were also many memorable performances versus Bangladesh from notable Pakistani players of this time, such as Mohammad Yousuf, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi and Umar Gul.

Even though the T20I was a new format to international cricket, likewise Pakistan had a clear advantage in this field as well. There were still some first T20I between Bangladesh and Pakistan where Pakistan clearly had the advantage and was winning more of the matches.

Bangladesh’s Resurgence: The Mid-2010s Turning Point

The mid-2010s brought about a significant shift between the cricketing landscapes of Bangladesh and Pakistan. While Pakistan were used to dominating international limited overs cricket over the past 3 decades, Bangladesh, with a more mature and experienced squad – started to impact on the outcomes of matches between the two nations. The victory came in April 2015 when Bangladesh made history by clean-sweeping a bilateral ODI series against Pakistan 3-0, at home. It was a watershed moment for the Bangladeshi team, showing confidence in their newfound ability to consistently beat top teams playing limited overs cricket on a regular basis. The first ODI, for example, saw Bangladesh post a massive total of 329 with Mushfiqur Rahim scoring a maiden century and then successfully defend it with no qualms. This series ushered in the golden generations of Bangladeshi cricketer’s exploits – Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Mashrafe Mortaza and Mustafizur Rahman. Any time the squad played at home (together with a passionate crowd) they were no longer perceived to be an easy beat against Test playing nations.

In 2016, in the Asia Cup tournament played in T20 format, the Bangladeshi Team achieved a major milestone by eliminating Pakistan from the group stage. Bangladesh made it to the final, although they were unsuccessful against India, but similarly to the bilateral ODI series in 2015 with superior performances against Pakistan – you could observe and see the rapid improvements and intent by the Bangladesh side in T20 cricket.

ICC Tournaments and Evolving Rivalry

Encounters in ICC tournaments have historically been significant In the 2019 World Cup, they held off Bangladesh winning by 94 runs in London. The matches have been well fought and Bangladesh has exhibited greater competitive strength and growing success. Pakistan has a 100% win record in the T20 world cup against Bangladesh including matches in 2007, 2010, 2014, 2016, and 2022.

The Asia Cup has offered equally memorable encounters – one being the horror show final in 2012 by 2 runs against the host team. The Bangladeshi fans had a mixed heart for Pakistan did finish it off in style and have a 2 run victory, it is definitely one of the best final’s to have ever happened in Asia Cup history! Without question, this final was clear cut evidence that Bangladesh continues to grow as an emerging cricketing nation and compete.

Recent Encounters and Future Outlook (Late 2010s – Present)

Rivalry is evolving. Statistically Pakistan is strong in all formats however, Bangladesh has seemingly developed their competitiveness especially in ODIs and T20Is. The recent matches differ and are less lopsided with Bangladesh showing they can be competitive. There are many significant players that contribute to the rivalry:

• From Pakistan: Mohammad Yousuf, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Akhtar, Saeed Anwar, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf.
• From Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mashrafe Mortaza, Mustafizur Rahman, Mahmudullah, Litton Das.

Read More: England Cricket Team vs Australian Men’s Cricket Team Timeline

Recent Series: Bangladesh tour of Pakistan, 2025 Full Schedule and Match Results
3 T20Is . May 28 – Jun 01

Pakistan vs Bangladesh, 1st T20I

Match Details	Information
Date	May 28, Wed
Venue	Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore
Result	Pakistan won by 37 runs
Time (Local / GMT)	8:00 PM

Pakistan vs Bangladesh, 2nd T20I

Match Details	Information
Date	May 30, Fri
Venue	Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore
Result	Pakistan won by 57 runs
Time (Local / GMT)	8:00 PM

Bangladesh vs Pakistan, 3rd T20I

Match Details	Information
Date	Jun 01, Sun
Venue	Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore
Result	Pakistan won by 7 wickets
Time (Local / GMT)	8:00 PM

Pakistan vs Bangladesh Team Squads 2025

Pakistan vs Bangladesh Head-to-head Records

Let’s look at Head-to-Head Record below-

Format	Matches	Pakistan Won	Bangladesh Won	Tie/Drawn/No result
Test	15	12	2	1
ODIs	39	34	5	–
T20Is	19	16	3	–

Conclusion

To recap, the cricketing histories of Pakistan and Bangladesh shows an interesting story of change. The sport rivalry had started off very one sided as Pakistan cricket used the Tussle with India to put itself on the world map and ultimately, appeared in 1992 World Cup. Since that time, matters have changed quite a bit and the rivalry has evolved, becoming competitive at times while certainly engaged. While it is still very apparent that Pakistan has had the historical advantage, I feel that the changes through Bangladesh’s ups and downs and many big upsets and series victories also adds to the interest and complexities of their rivalry.. Future matches promise to be even more interesting in that if both teams are able to continue to develop new players to the teams while progressively bettering their own process and game play, one can expect the cricket to continue improving and a bigger respect and recognition on the global stage.

FAQ

1. When did Pakistan and Bangladesh first play their international cricket?

The first ever match played between the Bangladesh and Pakistan team was in 1986. In the asia cup they played against each other and Pakistan won that match.

2. How Bangladesh’s win over Pakistan in the 1999 World Cup changed the game for Bangladesh?

When Bangladesh first won a major cup and it was a world cup against Pakistan it was a very important and big historical event for the Bangladesh cricket team.

3. Has Bangladesh ever won a complete ODI series against Pakistan?

In an ODI series between Pakistan and Bangladesh in 2015 the Bangladesh cricket team won all the matches in the series against Pakistan with the final score of 3-0.

4. Who are some of the key players that have shaped this rivalry?

From Pakistan, there are many great players like Shahid Afridi, Babar Azam, and Mohammad Rizwan and from Bangladesh, there are also some excellent cricket players like Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, and Mustafizur Rahman who have shaped this rivalry.

5. What is the overall statistics record currently standing across all formats between matches of these teams?

In the test series Pakistan has won 12 matches against Bangladesh and Bangladesh has won 2 matches and 1 was drawn. In the ODI series between Pakistan and Bangladesh, Pakistan won 34 matches and Bangladesh won 5 matches only, in the T20 series Pakistan has won 16 matches and Bangladesh has won 3 matches.