Pakistan vs Bangladesh, 2020: 1st Test – Statistical Preview

Bangladesh will be playing their first Test match on Pakistan soil in more than 16 years when they take the field on Friday during the Rawalpindi Test. This series against Pakistan is spread across two tours due to the Pakistan Super League (PSL). The 2nd Test will be played later in April just after the completion of the T20 League. Pakistan faced Sri Lanka at home a couple of months ago which was their first home Test series after a decade. Bangladesh are fresh of a thrashing they received against India during a 2-match Test series in November.

All the key stats and numbers ahead of the Rawalpindi Test between Pakistan and Bangladesh:

0-10 – Bangladesh has not won a Test match against Pakistan despite facing them on ten instances. In fact, Bangladesh lost nine of the 10 Tests against Pakistan including 8 in a row before the drawn match in the 2015 home series.

2/2 – Abid Ali has scored centuries in both the matches he played in his Test career thus far. If he scores a century in his next Test match, he will become only the 2nd player in the history of Test cricket to smash hundreds in first three Test matches. Only India’s Mohammad Azharuddin has achieved this feat to date.

18/18 – Pakistan won each and every match in International cricket they played against Bangladesh in Pakistan. This 18-match winning streak includes four Test matches played between 2001 and 2003.

80.33 – Rubel Hossain’s bowling average of 80.33 in Test cricket is the worst for any bowler who has delivered at least 500 overs. He has picked up 33 wickets across 26 Tests with help of one 5-wicket haul. Sir Viv Richards (61.37) is behind Rubel in this list but picks a wicket at the cost of 19 runs fewer than the Bangladesh pacer.  Rubel is expected to play the Rawalpindi Test which will be his first Test in two years.

93 – Pakistan has played 93 Test matches thus far since Fawad Alam’s last Test appearance in November 2009. If he gets a chance in the match that starts on Friday, the streak of 93 Tests will be the 7th most consecutive matches missed by a player in Test cricket and the 2nd most for Pakistan behind Younis Ahmed (104). Till date, Younis Ahmed is the only player to spend more than 10 years between two Test appearances for Pakistan.

1997 – Last time Pakistan won a Test match in Rawalpindi was way back in 1997. Pakistan lost three of the last four Test matches at this venue – by inns & 99 runs vs Australia in 1998, by 2 wickets vs Sri Lanka in 2000, by inns & 131 runs vs India in 2004 and a rain-affected draw against Sri Lanka in 2019. Pakistan won three of the first five Test matches played here while other two matches ended in a draw.

12936 – Tamim Iqbal needs 64 more runs to become the first player from Bangladesh to complete 13000 runs in International cricket. He has aggregated 12879 runs across all formats for Bangladesh and 57 runs across 4 T20Is for ICC World XI.

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