They won the toss and chose to bat first once more, aiming to score big and put the pressure on an opposition who almost always struggle to chase high scores, and the execution was exemplary.
Only the injured 35-year-old Fakhar Zaman was left out for Friday due to a minor injury and Pakistan opted for a ‘like for like’ replacement, with captain Salman Agha explaining at the toss that they want to maintain the dynamic that Fakhar and Saim Ayub have built as an opening partnership.
How thrilled they must have been for Fakhar’s replacement, Sahibzada Farhan, to stand out as the Player of the Match with a game-best 74 off 41 deliveries. It was a continuation of the batting that saw him top the run scoring for the 2025 Pakistan Super League, ten runs ahead of Fakhar.
Now with an unassailable 2-0 series lead, their next task is to complete their first clean sweep of any bilateral T20I series since December 2021. Unless they switch off, there's not a lot to suggest they won't.
Why Pakistan can win
With 201 runs and ten wickets in each match, Pakistan have not taken a step backwards in this series. Nor have the middle order duo of Hasan Nawaz and Mohammed Haris, who between them have contributed four of the seven 30+ run scores from Pakistan batters so far.
On a very similar note, some of the stars of the PSL with the ball have also carried their excellent franchise form through into this home series: just two days after Hasan Ali (17 PSL 2025 wickets) returned to the T20I side with career-best figures, leg spinner Abrar Ahmed did just the same, making a strong case to win the Player of the Match award with a four-over quota of 3-19.
Pakistan’s unbeaten record at home to Bangladesh in both white ball international formats now stands at 18-0 and, on the basis of their first two performances, it doesn’t look like it’ll be broken.
Why Bangladesh can win
But just as Pakistan have shown the ability to fall asleep in all formats over recent years - illustrated by their more than three year drought without a bilateral clean sweep - Bangladesh can occasionally put it all together for a full 40-over performance.
Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Ireland, Zimbabwe and New Zealand have all lost to Bangladesh over the last 24 months, whilst India remain the only side since the beginning of 2023 to sweep the Tigers in this format.
The major concern is that, even though they reduced the losing margin on Friday, they arguably went backwards even further with the bat: Tanzim Hasan Sakib’s half-century at number nine could have been a match-winning cameo had he had any support from the men paid to score runs for a living.
Parvez Hossain Emon and Towhid Hridoy have failed twice each this series, the other top and middle order batters are one from two in terms of reasonable scores, and the onus is on everybody to improve. Another concern is that Shoriful Islam was added to an already lengthy fast bowling injury list, and the only backup bowler is left-arm finger spinner Tanvir Islam.
Venue and conditions
There’s nothing more consistent than seeing the exact same first innings score in three successive games - other than four or more, of course!
Pakistan’s dual 201s on Wednesday and Friday followed Quetta Gladiators’ 201/9 at the same venue in the PSL final last Sunday, and the three playoffs games before that (all in Lahore) saw scores of between 190 and 202 runs.
What that says is that the current crop of Lahore pitches are producing high scores on a regular basis even despite a flurry of matches two or even one day apart, so on that basis more of the same can be expected - if Pakistan bat first for a third time. Bangladesh would love the opportunity to turn the tables.
Match stats
• Bangladesh had the highest opening partnership in both games of this series, whilst Pakistan struck the most sixes in both matches
• Abrar Ahmed took 2+ wickets in six of his 11 T20I bowling innings
• Mehidy Hasan Miraz went wicketless in each of his last seven bowling innings
• Tanzim Hasan Sakib has bowled nine balls to Mohammad Haris in this series for figures of 2-8
• Hasan Mahmud’s two overs to Agha Salman returned him figures of 2-9