Bangladesh team will be going to Pakistan to play its maiden test series in Pakistan within a few days time. Bangladesh had played its maiden test match in Pakistan in the year 2000 in the Asian Test Championship which was held in Multan. These two teams had played in its first ever test series in Bangladesh.
In the 3 test matches, Bangladesh was defeated quite convincingly by Pakistan. These two teams have played each other in 11 One Day Internationals over a period of 16 years. Earlier, most of those matches were held in the Asia Cup tournaments staged in almost every 4 years or thereabout. Bangladesh's only ODI victory over a test playing nation had also come by beating Pakistan in the year 1999 during the maiden world cup tournament of Bangladesh.
Those were happy times for any Bangladeshi cricket fan. Unfortunately, the current Bangladesh team have so far failed to build on those achievements of the past cricketers.
Actually, some of the players who were involved in that glorious win of Bangladesh had played in the maiden test match in Multan, like Mehrab Hossain, Aminul Islam, Akram Khan, Naimur Rahman, Khaled Mashud. But they have only proved the fundamental truth in cricket that One Day cricket and Test Cricket is not the same. As a result, they have only managed to score a first innings total of 134 and a second innings total of 148 in that test match.
And the worst thing about that scorecard was that Pakistan batsman scored 546 for the loss of only 3 wickets and then they declared their innings, which resulted in defeat for Bangladesh by a margin of an innings and 264 runs!
In fact, 134 is Bangladesh's lowest test innings total against Pakistan and the Bangladesh batsman have never been able to get past 160 runs in any of the test innings that the batsman had played. Another important thing - Bangladesh bowlers had never been able to get all 10 wickets of the Pakistani batsman during a test match.
If we look at the individual stats of the players, we will see that 8 Pakistani batsman have managed to score centuries against Bangladesh including one double century by Yousuf Youhanna whereas only one Bangladeshi batsman have managed to score a half century - unbeaten 56 by our best test batsman Habibul Bashar.
The highest partnership for Bangladesh against Pakistan in a test match is 69 for any wicket as well as for the 5th wicket and the second highest partnership is of 63 runs for the 4th wicket. On the other hand, Pakistan have 3 century partnerships against Bangladesh for the 1st wicket, 4th wicket and the 6th wicket. And the non-fifty partnerships for Pakistan against Bangladesh is of 19 and unbeaten 18 run partnerships respectively for the 9th and the 10th wicket.
A terror for the Bangladeshi batsman, Danish Kaneria had once taken 10 wickets in a test match, 12 wickets for only 94 runs in Multan, Pakistan. He is also the highest wicket taker for Pakistan against Bangladesh in test matches with 25 wickets and the great magician of reverse swing, Waqar Younis is the second highest wicket taker taking 18 test wickets of Bangladesh.
One positive thing for Bangladesh is that the 3rd most wicket taker is a Bangladeshi - Mohammad Sharif who had taken 8 test wickets. But unfortunately he is not playing cricket anymore due to his injury and lack of effort by the BCB officials in helping him getting rid of this long-term injury.
Habibul Bashar is also the top scorer for Bangladesh against Pakistan in test career with 175 runs in 6 test innings a batting average of 35. Others have a batting average of as low as around 11 or 12 which is not worth mentioning.
However, in One Day cricket, things are a little better for Bangladesh, but not too much. For example, in 5 of the 11 One Day Internationals played between these two teams, Pakistan's highest totals range from 281 for 5 wickets to even 320 for the loss of 3 wickets! And also, Bangladesh's lowest One Day Total includes 87 and 94 all out which is far below the lowest test total of 134.
3 Pakistani batsman have managed to score One Day centuries against Bangladesh including the test double-centurion Yousuf Youhanna, whereas the highest score of an individual Bangladeshi batsman is 82 by Atahar Ali Khan. The highest individual scorer for Bangladesh against Pakistan is Akram Khan with 203 runs at an average of just over 33.
The team performance of Bangladesh against Pakistan is also a little better considering that Bangladesh has a century partnership against Pakistan of 110 runs for the 4th wicket. And Bangladesh has five highest 50-run partnerships against Pakistan including the opening stand of 88 runs between Javed Omar and Mehrab Hossain. But in this case too, the Pakistani batsman has an upperhand as they have 4 century partnerships including a 200-run partnership and 2 nearly century partnerships of 97 and an unbeaten 98 run partnership.
3 Pakistani bowlers have taken 4 or more One Day wickets against Bangladesh in a match and Saqlain Mushtaq has taken 5 wickets twice. On the other hand, Khaled Mahmud is the top wicket taker for Bangladesh and Enamul Haque, Hasibul Hossain and Mohammad Sharif following Mahmud very closely with just 1 wicket behind. So there will be a stiff competition in this sector in taking wickets, especially since the coming one day series would include 5 One Day International matches.
This is interesting to note that Bangladesh have played 11 One Day Internationals against Pakistan but none of the matches were held in Pakistan. So, it will be Bangladesh's inaugural One Day International match in Pakistan.