Pakistan head to Sylhet with a fourth straight Test loss to Bangladesh on the cards
Bangladesh's 104-run win at Mirpur on Tuesday was their first ever home Test win over Pakistan. It also leaves Shan Masood's side a session away from an unwanted streak. Lose the second Test at Sylhet from Saturday and Pakistan's losing run against Bangladesh stretches to four in a row, a sequence that began with the 2-0 sweep at Rawalpindi in August–September 2024.
Masood owns the collapse
The captain went straight at it after the loss. Pakistan, set 268, were 119 for 3 before folding for 163 in the final session. "The whole team has to take responsibility," Masood told reporters, pointing to a "lack of game awareness" after tea when his batters kept playing for the win instead of pacing the chase. Nahid Rana's 5 for 40 delivered the knockout blow, and Masood was clear the spinners had built the pressure that made it possible.
That pressure showed up in the first innings too. Pakistan lost seven of their ten wickets to Bangladesh's spinners while making 386, and the pattern looked uncomfortably familiar. The 2024 sweep in Rawalpindi was built on the same template: spinners squeezing the middle order, pace finishing the job.
Sylhet plays to Bangladesh's strengths
The venue change does Pakistan no favours. Sylhet International Cricket Stadium has earned a reputation as a turner from day two, with a grassy top that helps the seamers early and a surface that breaks up fast. Bangladesh's last home Test win at the ground, a 150-run rout of New Zealand in late 2023, leaned on exactly that script: Taijul Islam picked up 10 wickets in the match. He, Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Nayeem Hasan will not need long to find their lengths in Sylhet again.
For Pakistan, the spin pairing of Noman Ali and Sajid Khan is the obvious counter, and Salman Ali Agha gives them a third option. The bigger question is whether they can match the volume Bangladesh sustained at Mirpur. Picking a third specialist spinner ahead of a quick is one of the live debates inside the camp.
Batting needs more than a debutant
Abdullah Fazal's 66 on debut was the standout from a Pakistan top order that otherwise struggled to convert. Bangladesh's Najmul Hossain Shanto, by contrast, made a century in the first innings and added 87 in the second to walk off with the player-of-the-match award. Pakistan's senior batters did not get close to that kind of output. Shan Masood was the first to say so, telling reporters he had to take responsibility for his own contributions as well as the team's.
Bangladesh do not have many questions to answer. Shanto's bat, Mushfiqur Rahim's 71 anchoring the first innings on his 39th birthday, and a Rana-Taskin Ahmed new-ball pairing that picked up wickets in both innings mean the XI that won at Mirpur barely needs a tweak.
Cricket Updates
