Match News and Current Form
Much to our embarrassment if you were keeping up with our previews during Bangladesh’s tour of Sri Lanka, they proved themselves to be anything but hopeless when overcoming a seven-wicket loss in the first T20I to win twice in very commanding fashion. Captain Litton Das became the first in their history to win two bilateral away series in this format, following their 3-0 clean sweep of West Indies in December 2024, and his own form is beginning to improve from a lengthy malaise.
Litton hailed the series triumph as “a big achievement for Bangladesh (that) will boost our cricket and the new generation”. If they are going to inspire and engage that next generation, it’s imperative that they take their confidence forward and end a period of nine consecutive T20I series without back-to-back wins, one that stretches back into late 2023. That is in part due to a lot of travel - on home soil, they have defeated England (3-0), Ireland (2-1), Afghanistan (2-0) and Zimbabwe (4-1) in their last five home series.
Confusion reigns in the media and amongst the fanbase about Pakistan’s approach to the 2026 T20 World Cup after they dropped the pair of former captains Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan from the side only to invite them back to train in Karachi alongside the 15 men they sent to Dhaka for this three-game series. Head coach Mike Hesson even had to dismiss speculation that Babar was asked to take up wicketkeeping to force his way back into the side with a new skill.
Pakistan swept Bangladesh 3-0 at home in their last series which was less than two months ago but recent history suggests they’ll have some trouble being able to repeat the dose on foreign soil. Out of eight bilateral away series in this format since the beginning of 2023, their only two victories were in Ireland (2-1) and Zimbabwe (2-1) and even they didn’t come without embarrassment. A triumph in a country that can be difficult for touring nations would go a long way towards setting them back on the right path.
Head-to-Head History
Pakistan’s win rate of 86% against Bangladesh in this format is their best against any opposition with a minimum of five matches played (W19, L3). Even that comes with a bit of an asterisk, for one of the three losses came at the 2023 Asian Games in China where both nations fielded what were effectively ‘A’ teams in fully capped T20Is.
If excluding that, Pakistan are on a 12-game H2H winning streak including a 3-0 clean sweep in Dhaka four years ago.
Hot Stats and Streaks
• Six of the nine Mirpur T20Is since Nov 2021 were won chasing
• Teams who score 160+ in Mirpur have an 85% win rate compared with 33% for those who score under 160
• Seven of Pakistan’s last eight opening partnerships were worth 12 or fewer runs
• Bangladesh’s highest successful run chase in Mirpur is just 145 (v Zimbabwe 2019)
Key Players to Watch and Missing Players
New Bangladesh skipper Litton Das won the Player of the Series award against Sri Lanka for scores of 76 and 32 in their two victories. Pakistan wicketkeeper Mohammad Haris sparkled with a series-best 179 runs in May including his first and only T20I century.
Bangladesh have chosen the same squad that defeated Sri Lanka 2-1. Pakistan have moved on from Shaheen Shah Afridi and Hasan Ali despite the latter taking eight wickets in the May 2025 series. Haris Rauf joins Mohammad Wasim Jr and Naseem Shah on the injury list, so it’ll very much be a new-look bowling lineup for the tourists.
Betting Analysis
Bangladesh have got a bit of forward momentum on their side after a morale boosting comeback and are in better shape than when they lost three times away to Pakistan in May. With home ground advantage on their side, Bangladesh to win looks good value at the price.