Tigers Roar in Dhaka: Bangladesh Crush Pakistan in T20 Series Opener

Spectacular Upset as Tigers Roar Past Pakistan

In a com­mand­ing dis­play of skill and com­po­sure, Bangladesh achieved a remark­able sev­en-wick­et vic­to­ry over Pak­istan in the open­ing T20I of their three-match series at the Shere Bangla Nation­al Sta­di­um, Dha­ka, on July 20, 2025. This win sets the tone for the series and sig­nals a new era of con­fi­dence for Bangladesh crick­et, espe­cial­ly giv­en their rare suc­cess in this his­toric rival­ry.

Match Overview

• Venue: Shere Bangla Nation­al Sta­di­um, Dha­ka
• Date: July 20, 2025
• Result: Bangladesh beat Pak­istan by 7 wick­ets (Bangladesh leads 1–0 in the series).

Pakistan’s Innings: A Tale of Collapse

Pak­istan, put into bat, strug­gled right from the start and were bun­dled out for a dis­ap­point­ing 110 in just 19.3 overs—marking their low­est T20I total against Bangladesh. The side lost wick­ets in clus­ters, with the top and mid­dle order unable to with­stand Bangladesh’s relent­less attack:

• Fakhar Zaman pro­vid­ed the only notable resis­tance, scor­ing 44 (34 balls) before an unfor­tu­nate run out halt­ed his innings.
• Abbas Afri­di added a fight­ing 22 off 24 balls down the order, but none of the oth­er bat­ters made a mean­ing­ful impact.
• The innings was plagued by poor run­ning between the wick­ets, two crit­i­cal run-outs, and con­sis­tent pres­sure from Bangladesh bowlers.

Bangladesh’s bowl­ing mas­ter­class:

• Taskin Ahmed: 3.3 overs, 22 runs, 3 wick­ets — ripped through the top order.
• Mustafizur Rah­man: 4 overs, 6 runs, 2 wick­ets — pos­si­bly his most miser­ly T20I spell, sti­fling Pakistan’s mid­dle order.
• The pace trio and dis­ci­plined field­ing left Pak­istan reel­ing, unable to string togeth­er part­ner­ships of sig­nif­i­cance.

Bangladesh’s Chase: Emon’s Calm Amid Early Chaos

Chas­ing a mod­est 111, Bangladesh wob­bled at the start, los­ing both openers—Tanzid Hasan and Lit­ton Das—inside the first three overs to an inspired debut by Pak­istan pac­er Salman Mirza. How­ev­er, com­po­sure returned quick­ly:

• Parvez Hos­sain Emon anchored the chase with an unbeat­en 56 from 39 balls, show­cas­ing a blend of aggres­sion (three fours, five six­es) and matu­ri­ty.
• Emon’s crit­i­cal part­ner­ship with Towhid Hri­doy (36 off 37) added 73 runs for the third wick­et, effec­tive­ly seal­ing the match and break­ing Pakistan’s resolve.
• Bangladesh wrapped up the chase with 27 balls to spare, fin­ish­ing at 112/3 in 15.3 overs.

Key Turning Points

• Ear­ly Loss­es: Bangladesh fell to 7/2, but Emon and Hridoy’s part­ner­ship sta­bi­lized the innings and shift­ed the pres­sure entire­ly onto Pak­istan.
• Bowl­ing Bril­liance: Taskin and Mustafizur’s open­ing spells crip­pled Pak­istan, who lost four wick­ets with­in the pow­er­play.
• Missed Oppor­tu­ni­ties: Pakistan’s field­ers dropped key catch­es, most notably let-offs for Emon and Hri­doy, com­pound­ing their woes.
• Debutant’s Spark: Salman Mirza’s ini­tial break­throughs were the only bright spot for Pak­istan in an oth­er­wise for­get­table out­ing.

Captains’ Reflections

• Salman Agha (Pak­istan cap­tain): Lament­ed his team’s fail­ure to set a com­pet­i­tive total and cred­it­ed the Bangladesh bowlers for exploit­ing famil­iar con­di­tions. He acknowl­edged poor shot selec­tion and run-outs as piv­otal mis­takes, promis­ing a reassess­ment before the next match.
• Bangladesh team: Praised for smart bowl­ing changes, ener­getic field­ing, and a calm, cal­cu­lat­ed chase under pres­sure.

Scorecard Snapshot

Team	Innings	Top Scor­er	Best Bowler	Result
Pak­istan	110 all out (19.3)	Fakhar Zaman 44	Taskin Ahmed 3/22	Lost by 7 wick­ets
Bangladesh	112/3 (15.3)	Parvez Emon 56*	Mustafizur Rah­man 2/6	Won by 7 wick­ets

Player of the Match

Parvez Hos­sain Emon — For his unbeat­en 56* that guid­ed Bangladesh home after an ear­ly scare.

Series Implications

• Bangladesh go 1–0 up in the three-match series, putting pres­sure on a Pak­istan side miss­ing senior stars and des­per­ate­ly seek­ing form.
• The sta­di­um crowd erupt­ed as the Tigers cel­e­brat­ed only their fourth T20I win against Pak­istan in 23 con­tests.
• Pak­istan now face a must-win sit­u­a­tion in game two, sched­uled for July 22 at the same venue.

What’s Next?

• 2nd T20I: July 22, 2025, Shere Bangla Nation­al Sta­di­um, Dha­ka, 6:00 PM local time.

Fans and ana­lysts will watch close­ly: Will Bangladesh ride this wave of momen­tum to a his­toric series win, or can Pak­istan recov­er and fight their way back?

Full Scorecard Highlights

Pakistan Batting

• Fakhar Zaman: 44 (34, 6x4, 1x6)
• Abbas Afri­di: 22 (24, 0x4, 3x6)
• Taskin Ahmed: 3.3–0‑22–3
• Mustafizur Rah­man: 4–0‑6–2

Bangladesh Batting

The Bottom Line

Bangladesh’s clin­i­cal all-round per­for­mance stunned Pak­istan and delight­ed their home faith­ful, mak­ing for a mem­o­rable series open­er and sig­nal­ing a thrilling bat­tle ahead in Dha­ka.