- June 1, 2025
Pakistan cricket supporters are notoriously hard to please, and for good reason. After the disappointments they have endured in recent times, perhaps two fortuitous back-to-back T20I victories over a disheartened Bangladesh won’t provoke many rounds of applause. But if you squint hard enough, you might detect the shadow of a team trying to escape its recent past. A braver batting philosophy, new faces stepping up, and just enough control with the ball—Pakistan are not playing for a 3-0 series win here, they are playing for a new T20I identity. And ahead of the final game of the series, the question is whether they will continue to build or revert to their old ways?
Pakistan’s T20I Evolution: Is This the Birth of a Contemporary Batting Era?
Pakistan’s previous batting style had largely been cautious—long anchors, slow starts, and thinking, “let’s save some wickets for the death.” But something clicked in this series. Mohammad Haris finally got an extended run at No. 3 and showed exactly why everyone has had an eye on him since 2022. He has mixed clean striking and intelligent rotation, and combined aggression with maturity. While Saim Ayub may still be finding his feet post-injury, his presence beside Farhan establishes a tempo that Pakistan has failed to show in the past–high tempo, from the first ball.
The aggression is not a thoughtless approach. The batters have attacked, but they are attacking with intent, using their entire inning rather than all toward the end. Sure, it is against a severely weakened Bangladesh attack; however, the blueprint is there. And, it is much more refreshing than what fans were subjected to during the recent World Cup disappointment.
Bowling Still a Puzzle—But It’s Holding Up (For Now)
Let’s face it, this isn’t Pakistan’s best bowling attack. Haris Rauf is coming off an injury, Hasan Ali is no longer at his best, and the pace attack has little bite as a whole. However, you’ve got to give them credit—they haven’t even conceded a sniff to Bangladesh in the chases. The leg-spinning duo of Shadab Khan and Abrar Ahmed have applied defensive pressure quite well, and Faheem Ashraf has added any lack of depth in his bowling output in short bursts.
However, with tougher challenges ahead, this attack lacks depth. Bangladesh’s lack of batting depth hasn’t exposed Pakistan yet, but against better teams, this bowling attack could be very average. Not to celebrate clean sheets, but can the attack withstand real pressure? So far, they are doing enough, but time will tell.
Bangladesh’s Identity Crisis in T20Is Worsens
Bangladesh, on the other hand, continues to look like a team confused about its identity in the shortest version of the game. They started this series already bruised from a defeat against UAE, missing key players and knowing that their batting has had no real punch and relied on sporadic cameo knocks, which collapse under scoreboard pressure.
Besides, the surprise spanner in the works has been Tanzim Hasan Sakib; his all-around effort in the second match game gave them some fight. Overall, though Bangladesh’s intent refused to muster, their structure in T20I cricket is gaping. With Litton Das struggling and the middle order’s inability to capitalize regularly, far too often has the burden been left on the bowling attack to gather up the mess. If they want to challenge the top teams, they need a rethink, not just a change of players, but also of thinking.
Pakistan now has the golden opportunity to finish off this series 3-0, but more importantly, would be carrying through that modern attacking style beyond just this series. Bangladesh, however, has a deeper problem that goes beyond one series.
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