Bangladesh had gone so long without beating Pakistan in a Test that the breakthrough felt overdue—and now, after that long wait, they’ve made it count. The Tigers have won three straight against Pakistan, and this latest triumph came as their first home victory over the visitors. The match in Mirpur was a tense, twisty contest that refused to settle until the late stages of the final day, when Nahid Rana delivered the decisive blows. The fast-bowling sensation finished with figures of 5 for 40, helping Bangladesh win by 104 runs and move ahead 1-0 in the series.
Going into the last session, nothing was certain. Pakistan still required 152 runs with seven wickets left, and the game’s balance hinged heavily on Abdullah Fazal, the debutant who had carried himself with impressive calm. Fazal had reached 66, and with Salman Ali Agha he stitched together a 48-run partnership for the fourth wicket, pushing Pakistan’s chase of 268 deep into the afternoon on a pitch that had started to play awkwardly. With the final-day surface offering inconsistent bounce and the threat of bad light hanging over proceedings, Pakistan’s chances of forcing a result looked slim—but not impossible. Even a draw remained within the realm of possibility.
Then, five balls into the final session, that slim window snapped shut. Taijul Islam found a delivery that gripped and spun viciously, beating Fazal’s inside edge on the defensive attempt and striking his pad. The initial call from umpire Richard Kettleborough stood, but the review produced three reds, ending the debutant’s resilient stay and swinging momentum sharply back toward Bangladesh. As so often happens when a pivotal wicket goes, another quickly followed.
Taskin Ahmed struck immediately in the next over. Salman Ali Agha tried to attack a wide, full ball, but the edge flew to one of two gully fielders set for that exact scenario. Pakistan lost another wicket, and the pressure intensified. Mohammad Rizwan, however, survived an early scare when a review overturned an LBW decision on the first ball he faced. With that reprieve, Rizwan and Saud Shakeel managed to see out the immediate turbulence and reach the drinks break without further alarm. Still, Pakistan’s task was daunting: 119 runs needed with five wickets remaining. A win was fading fast, but the possibility of salvaging a draw still flickered.
Rana extinguished that flicker. Although he had been a touch expensive in his opening spell—conceding 30 runs in five overs—he was about to make his overs count. He coaxed Hasan Ali Shakeel into a loose drive and had him caught behind. In the very next over, he produced a strike that felt like a statement: a nip-backer clocked at 147 kilometres per hour. Rizwan misread it completely, lifting his bat only to watch the ball crash into the stumps in disbelief. Taijul Islam then added another blow, trapping Hasan Ali lbw with an arm ball. Rana completed the sequence by nipping one back into Noman Ali, winning another LBW on review, before Shaheen Afridi was caught to seal a memorable Bangladesh win.
To understand how Pakistan ended up needing 152 with seven wickets left, it helps to trace the match’s tight, shifting earlier phases. Bangladesh began the final session with their momentum carefully built. The day’s work started with Bangladesh still at the crease, adding 88 runs in 20 determined overs to set a target of 268. Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto was central to that push, scoring 87, while Mominul Haque contributed 56 as the home side posted 413 before declaring, then added 240 for nine declared in their second innings.
Pakistan’s chase began just before Lunch, but Imam-ul-Haque fell before the interval, edging Taskin to the cordon. From there, the picture changed when Abdullah Fazal emerged from the early disruption and attacked in the second session. He struck two boundaries off Mehidy, then followed it with three in a row off Nahid Rana, signalling that Pakistan’s chase was not meant to be a passive one. Mehidy struck back by bowling Azan Awais for 15, and Rana removed Shan Masood cheaply, trapping him lbw for two after he was caught behind. Yet Fazal kept going, refusing to let the innings unravel.
Fazal reached his fifty with an upper-cut off Ebadot, becoming the sixth Pakistan batter to score fifties in both innings of a debut Test — a notable achievement as Pakistan tried to squeeze the match into their favour. With Salman Ali Agha alongside him, Pakistan pushed the contest into the final session still very much alive. In the end, though, Bangladesh’s quality—especially in the closing spell—was just too much for the visitors, and the threats posed by Fazal and his partner could not be converted into a result.
Brief scores: Bangladesh 413 & 240/9 decl (Najmul Hossain Shanto 87, Mominul Haque 56; Hasan Ali 3-52) beat Pakistan 386 & 163 (Abdullah Fazal 66; Nahid Rana 5-40) by 104 runs.
