The Pakistan Super League concluded on May 3, 2026, with the Babar Azam-led Peshawar Zalmi clinching their second title. Pakistan’s focus now shifts to a long international calendar as they tour Bangladesh for two important ICC World Test Championship matches, with Day 1 of the first Test concluding today at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur.
Pakistan won the toss and chose to bowl first, but Bangladesh ended up dominating all three sessions on the whole. Both sides started with three pacers and one specialist spinner, which suggested it was a pacer-friendly wicket.
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Bangladesh’s 1st innings, which started with immense hope through back-to-back boundaries, soon slumped at 31 for 2 in the first hour, with opener batters Mahmudul Hasan Joy and Shadman Islam departing early with respective scores of 8 and 13.
Pakistan found themselves off to a great start thanks to the efforts of premium pacers Shaheen Afridi and Hasan Ali. However, their joy was short-lived after a controlled and mammoth 170-run partnership between skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto and Mominul Haque made things difficult for the visitors and raised questions over whether bowling first was the right decision after all.
A century from Shanto, who scored 101 off 130 balls, alongside Haque, who narrowly missed out on his century by just 9 runs, stabilised the Bangladesh batting after the early wickets. The partnership stood out before both batters eventually departed, with Haque trapped lbw by a cracking delivery from Noman Ali, and Mohammad Abbas getting the better of Shanto.
This was Shanto’s 9th Test century since making his debut for Bangladesh in 2017, and it also marked him as the first Bangladeshi captain to achieve this feat against Pakistan.
Three solid sessions for Bangladesh
Mushfiqur Rahim remained unbeaten on 48 off 104 deliveries, while wicketkeeper-batter Litton Das was not out on 8. The measured scoring rate from Bangladesh’s batting unit, adapting smartly to the match situation, helped add stability to the scorecard with exactly 101, 100 and 100 runs scored across the three sessions to conclude Day 1 in a strong position at 301/4.
As for the Pakistani bowlers, all in action picked up a wicket each, with only Salman Ali Agha missing out on Day 1. Pakistan will aim to pick up early morning wickets to get back into the game after a forgettable opening day.