Pakistan vs Bangladesh: The State of Play
Pakistan will join their opponents in playing for pride in their final game of the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy on Thursday when they take on Bangladesh at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.
The hosts launched their campaign with a 60-run defeat to New Zealand in Karachi before losing to India by six wickets in Dubai on Sunday.
Bangladesh began with defeat to India by the same margin in Dubai and were then defeated by the Kiwis by five wickets in Rawalpindi on Monday.
Pakistan coach Aaqib Javed seemed in little doubt when he assessed the end of his side’s title defence before the semi-finals.
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“When Pakistan and India are playing, it’s not only cricket,” Javed said, via ESPN. “It’s more than that. You need a lot of experience.
“This India team was the most experienced – they have almost 1,500 games together. And Pakistan is on the bottom, with fewer than 400 games together.
“If you look at [our] players, Babar Azam is the only one who has played more than 100 games. Then there’s Mohammad Rizwan [88 One-Day International matches] and then Shaheen Afridi [64].
“The rest of them have fewer than 30 matches. Tayyab Tahir has played like eight games. Imam-ul-Haq [73 games] was coming back in the team.”
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Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto said Bangladesh have been “taking it lightly” and need to be “more responsible” when batting.
“We cannot keep chopping and changing [personnel],” Shanto argued. “We have to keep giving our existing resources more opportunities.
“I have said it a lot of times in the past, but we [have] made the same mistakes over and over again. We have to focus on how we want to improve our batting.
“I hope, after this tournament, we will make some changes as a batting unit [to] bring improvement.”
Pakistan vs Bangladesh team news
Fakhar Zaman has been Pakistan’s major injury absentee for the tournament, and both teams could make changes in a dead rubber.
Shanto, who returned to the squad for the tournament, was their only player to really impress against New Zealand, hitting nine 4s on his way to 77 off 110 balls.
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Pakistan vs Bangladesh expected line-ups
Pakistan: Usman Khan, Azam, Shakeel, Rizwan (c, wk), Agha, Tahir, Khushdil Shah, Afridi, Naseem Shah, Rauf, Ahmed
Bangladesh: Hasan, Shanto (c), Miraz, Hridoy, Rahim (wk), Mahmudullah, Ali, Hossain, Ahmed, Rahman, Rana
How to watch Pakistan vs Bangladesh: TV channel, live stream
The ICC Champions Trophy can be watched in the UK on Sky Sports. Thursday’s coverage starts on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Cricket at 0830.
In India, it is being shown on the JioStar network with JioHotstar providing live streaming. On television, in addition to the English feed, coverage will also be available in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada across Star Sports and Sports18 channels.
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Pakistan vs Bangladesh prediction
Pakistan’s considerable odds-on prospects with bookmakers are reflective of the reality that this match should produce a comfortable consolatory victory for them against the tournament rank outsiders.
The first ever Champions Trophy meeting between the teams is, however, at high risk of being affected by rain, according to forecasts.
Australia and South Africa’s encounter in Rawalpindi on Tuesday was rained off, and these sides will be hoping their finales do not sufffer the same fate.
