පකිස්තානු ජාතික ක්‍රිකට් කණ්ඩායම

Cricket in Pakistan has a history predating the creation of the country in 1947. The first ever international cricket match in Karachi was held on 22 November 1935 between Sindh and Australian cricket teams. The match was seen by 5,000 Karachiites.^[11] Following the independence of Pakistan in 1947, cricket in the country developed rapidly and Pakistan was given Test match status at a meeting of the Imperial Cricket Conference at Lord's in England on 28 July 1952 following recommendation by India,^[12] which, being the successor state of the British Raj, did not have to go through such a process. The first captain of the Pakistan national cricket team was Abdul Hafeez Kardar.

Pakistan's first Test match was played in Delhi in October 1952 as part of a five Test series which India won 2–1. Pakistan made their first tour of England in 1954 and drew the series 1–1 after a memorable victory at The Oval in which fast bowler Fazal Mahmood took 12 wickets. Pakistan's first home Test match was against India in January 1955 at Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dacca, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), after which four more Test matches were played in Bahawalpur, Lahore, Peshawar and Karachi (all five matches in the series were drawn, the first such occurrence in Test history^[13]).

The team is considered a strong but unpredictable team. Traditionally Pakistani cricket has been filled with players of great talent but limited discipline, making them a team which could play inspirational cricket one day and then perform less than ordinarily another day. In particular, the India-Pakistan cricket rivalry has always been emotionally charged and provide for intriguing contests, as talented teams and players from both sides of the border elevate their game to new levels to produce high-quality cricket. Pakistani contests with India in the Cricket World Cup have seen packed stadiums and elevated atmospheres no matter where the World Cup has been held. The team is well supported both at home and abroad, especially in the United Kingdom where British Pakistanis have formed a fan-club called the "Stani Army", who show up to matches across the country and provide raucous support. The Stani Army also take part in charity initiatives for needy Pakistanis, including annual friendly cricket matches against British Indian members of the similar "Bharat Army".

The 1986 Austral-Asia Cup, played in Sharjah in UAE, is remembered for a famous last-ball victory for Pakistan against arch-rivals India, with Javed Miandad emerging as a national hero.^[14] India batted first and set a target of 245 runs, leaving Pakistan with a required run rate of 4.92 runs per over. Miandad came in to bat at number 3 and Pakistan lost wickets at regular intervals. Later recalling the match, he stated that his main focus was to lose with dignity. With 31 runs needed in the last three overs, Miandad hit a string of boundaries while batting with his team's lower order, until four runs were required from the last delivery of the match. Miandad received a leg side full toss from Chetan Sharma, which he hit for six over the midwicket boundary.^[14][15]

At the 1992 World Cup Semi-final, having won the toss, New Zealand chose to bat first and ended with a total of 262 runs. Pakistan batted conservatively yet lost wickets at regular intervals. With the departure of Imran Khan and Saleem Malik shortly thereafter, Pakistan still required 115 runs at a rate of 7.67 runs per over with veteran Javed Miandad being the only known batsman remaining at the crease. A young Inzamam-ul-Haq, who had just turned 22 and was not a well-known player at the time, burst onto the international stage with a match-winning 60 off 37 balls. Once Inzamam got out, Pakistan required 36 runs from 30 balls, which wicketkeeper Moin Khan ended with a towering six over long off, followed by the winning boundary to midwicket. The match is seen as the emergence of Inzamam onto the international stage.^[16][17][18]

The 1992 Cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand marked Pakistan's first World Cup victory. It is remembered for the comeback Pakistan made after losing key players such as Waqar Younis and Saeed Anwar and being led by an injured captain Imran Khan. Pakistan lost 3 of their first 5 matches and were nearly eliminated in the first round of the tournament after being bowled out for 74 runs against England, until the match was declared as a "no result" due to rain. Imran Khan famously told the team to play as "cornered tigers", after which Pakistan won five successive matches, including, most famously, the semi-final against hosts New Zealand and the final against England.^[19]

The 2007 Cricket World Cup was one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history when Pakistan was knocked out of the competition in a shock defeat to Ireland, who were playing in their first competition. Pakistan, needing to win to qualify for the next stage after losing to the West Indies in their opening match, were put into bat by Ireland. They lost wickets regularly and only 4 batsmen scored double figures. In the end they were bowled out by the Irish for 132 runs. The Irish went on to win the match, after Niall O'Brien scored 72 runs. This meant that Pakistan had been knocked out during the first round for the second consecutive World Cup.^[20][21][22] Tragedy struck the team when coach Bob Woolmer died one day later on 18 March 2007 in a hospital in Kingston, Jamaica. Jamaican police spokesman, Karl Angell, reported on 23 March 2007 that, "Mr Woolmer's death was due to asphyxiation as a result of manual strangulation" and that, "Mr Woolmer's death is now being treated by the Jamaica police as a case of murder."^[23] Assistant coach Mushtaq Ahmed acted as temporary coach for the team's final group game of the tournament.^[24] Subsequent to his team's defeat and the death of Woolmer, Inzamam-ul-Haq announced his resignation as captain of the team and his retirement from one-day cricket, stating that he would continue to take part in Test cricket but not as captain.^[25] Shoaib Malik was announced as his successor.^[26] Following his return to the squad, Salman Butt was appointed as vice-captain until December 2007.^[27]

On 23 March 2007, Pakistan players and officials were questioned by Jamaican police and submitted DNA samples along with fingerprints, as part of the routine enquiries in the investigation into Woolmer's murder.^[28] Three days after leaving the West Indies for Pakistan, via London, the Pakistan team were ruled out as suspects. The deputy commissioner of Jamaican police. Mark Shields, the detective in charge of the investigation, announced, "It's fair to say they are now being treated as witnesses." "I have got no evidence to suggest it was anybody in the squad."^[29] A memorial service was held in Sacred Heart Church, Lahore, for Bob Woolmer on 1 April 2007. Among the attendees were Pakistan players and dignitaries, including Inzamam-ul-Haq, who was quoted as saying, "After Woolmer's family, the Pakistan team was the most aggrieved by his death."^[30] After the World Cup ended, serious doubts were raised about the investigation, with increasing speculation that Woolmer died of natural causes. This has now been accepted as fact, and the case has been closed.^[31]

On 20 April 2007, a PCB official announced that former Test cricketer Talat Ali would act as interim coach, in addition to his rôle as team manager, until a new coach had been appointed.^[32] On 16 July 2007, Geoff Lawson, previously head coach of New South Wales, was appointed coach of the Pakistan for two years, becoming the third foreigner to take on the rôle.^[33] In the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, Pakistan exceeded expectations to reach the final but ended as runners-up, after losing the final to India in a nail-biting finish. On 25 October 2008, Intikhab Alam was named as a national coach of the team by the PCB.

On 21 June 2009 Pakistan won the 2009 ICC World Twenty20, beating Sri Lanka in the final by eight wickets. Pakistan had begun the tournament slowly losing two of their first three matches but after dismissing New Zealand for 99 runs in the Super 8 stage they had a run of four consecutive wins against teams including previously unbeaten South Africa (in the semi-final) and Sri Lanka in the Final. Due to his top form, Shahid Afridi emerged as Pakistan's hero in the final taking the last single and making Pakistan win their first Twenty 20 world cup. Shahid Afridi was announced player of the match in both Semifinal and Final of the Tournament vs SA and SL respectively.

The 2010 World T20 was held in West Indies, where Pakistan was able to reach for the semi-final stage. Pakistan, Australia and Bangladesh were in Group A. Pakistan won the first match against Bangladesh by 21 runs. Salman Butt became the hero of the match with his 73 runs from just 46 balls. The second match for Pakistan was with Australia, where Australia won the toss and elected to bat. They scored 191/10 with 49 ball 81 runs by Shane Watson. In this match, final over of Australian innings was bowled by Mohammad Amir. He took a triple-wicket maiden and there were two run-outs, and eventually five wickets fell in the final over of Australia's innings.

In Super 8s stage, Pakistan lost to England, and New Zealand, only won against South Africa. They finished only behind England in Group E of Super 8s, reached to the semi-finals The semi-final for Pakistan was again with Australia, where they scored 191/6 with Umar Akmal's not out 56 runs. Australia had a good start, where Michael Hussey scored a match winning unbeaten 64 runs from just 24 balls. Australia scored 197/7 in 19.5 overs and won the match. With this match, Pakistan lost their defended World T20 title.

Pakistan started well in the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup, which was held in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, after beating Kenya, Sri Lanka (one of the tournament favourites) and bye a margin, beating Canada. Shahid Afridi clearly stated that his team is capable of qualifying for the Semifinals. After a huge loss against New Zealand, Pakistan defeated Zimbabwe by 7 wickets. After victory against Zimbabwe Pakistan cemented their shot at playing the ICC CWC 2011 Quarters. One of the highlights of the tournament for Pakistan was when they beat Australia, who were led by 3 brilliant pace bowlers, Brett Lee, Shaun Tait and Mitchell Johnson. However Pakistan defied the odds and defeated Australia, courtesy of a brilliant bowling display. This saw Australia's record win streak of 27 consecutive world cup games broken which saw them win every game between the 1999 world cup up until this game. In the quarter-finals they played West Indies. Pakistan were ruthless, as they emphatically won against the West Indies side by 10 wickets, due to another brilliant bowling display. In the semi-finals on 30 March, Pakistan had a match with its fiercest rival, India. India, due to Tendulkar who was as always dominant against the Pakistani bowling attack, managed 260 after they batted first. Not having a good batting line-up along with a slow start to the chase, Pakistan were 29 runs short as India reached the final (India went on to win the final, by defeating Sri Lanka).

The 2012 edition of World T20 was held in Sri Lanka, where Pakistan grouped in Group D with New Zealand, and Bangladesh. They won comfortably against the two teams, and stood up as top of group D. In super eight contest, Pakistan first played against South Africa, where Pakistan won the match by just 2 runs. next match was against India, which always given a much publicity by all over the fans. Pakistan bowled out for just 128 runs, where India reached the target with only 2 wickets given. Pakistan won their last Super eight match against Australia by 32 runs, where Saeed Ajmal performed well in the match by taking 3 wickets for 17 runs. Pakistan qualified for the semi-finals after superior net run rate than India.

The Pakistan semi-final was with the host-Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka scored 139/ with Mahela Jayawardena took the gear. Pakistan chased the target, but wickets in crucial interval gave them backward. Skipper Mohammad Hafeez scored 42 runs and all the other batsmen not going well. The match was turned towards Sri Lanka with magical spell by Rangana Herath, who took wickets of Mohammad Hafeez, Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik. Pakistan lost the match by 16 runs.

The 2014 ICC World T20 was held by Bangladesh. the Pakistani team was in Bangladesh prior to the World T20, due to 2014 Asia Cup, which was held by Bangladesh. Pakistan played for the Group 2, with mighty oppositions. The tournament was a disappointing one for the Pakistanis, where they won 2 and lost 2, finished the group as third and disqualified for the semi-finals.

The first group match was with rivals India, which India won by 7 wickets. The next match was against Australia, where Pakistan scored 191/5 with brilliant batting of Umar Akmal. Australia had a fierce going with 33 ball 74 runs by Glenn Maxwell, but only managed to score 175. Pakistan won the match by 16 runs. The match against Bangladesh was a comfortable win by 50 runs. Pakistani opening batsman Ahmed Shehzad scored the maiden T20I century by a Pakistani. He finished with an unbeaten 111 of 62 balls. The crucial match was with West Indies, where the winning team would go through to the semi-final. West Indies won the toss and elected to bat first. They scored 166/6 in their 20 overs, West Indies scored 82 runs off the last 5 overs giving a fearsome hitting to the Pakistani bowlers. Pakistan's chase was unsuccessful as they were bowled out for just 82 runs. Pakistan was eliminated from the tournament with this result.

Pakistan started poorly in the 2015 Cricket World Cup. Their first match was against cricket rivals — India. India batted first and scored 300/7 with Virat Kohli scoring a century. After a poor start to the run chase, Pakistan's skipper Misbah-ul-Haq made a useful contribution of 76 runs but Pakistan lost the match by 76 runs. The second match against West Indies was a disaster. West Indies posted 310/6 on the board. In response, Pakistan lost 4 wickets for 1 run on the board, a first in an ODI match. The team was bowled out for 160 and lost the match by 150 runs.

Pakistan then won their next four games against Zimbabwe, UAE, South Africa and Ireland. Sarfraz Ahmed scored Pakistan's only century against Ireland and was awarded Man of the Match against both South Africa and Ireland. The victory was Pakistan's first against South Africa in a World Cup match. Pakistan finished third in group B and qualified for the quarter finals.

The quarter final match of Pakistan was against Australia. Pakistan scored 213 runs. Australia started steadily but wickets regularly fell during the middle overs. The match gained a lot of attraction due to the on-field rivalry between Australian all-rounder, Shane Watson and Pakistani pacer, Wahab Riaz. Wahab's spell was praised despite not picking up many wickets. Pakistan dropped catches during the first power-play and conceded many runs. The partnership between Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell allowed Australia to win the match. As a result, Pakistan were knocked out of the tournament. The match was the final ODI for Pakistani's captain Misbah-ul-Haq and experienced all-rounder Shahid Afridi.

After the 2015 Cricket World Cup, Misbah-ul-Haq and Shahid Afridi ended their ODI careers. As a result, the captaincy of the ODI team was given to newcomer Azhar Ali. Under his captaincy, Pakistan played their first ODI series against Bangladesh. The tour was a disappointment and Pakistan lost all three ODIs as well as the T20 match. Clever bowling coupled with wonderful batting and fielding allowed the hosts to stroll past the visitors. This was Bangladesh's first win against Pakistan since the 1999 Cricket World Cup and first ever series win over Pakistan. However, Pakistan ended the tour on a positive with a 1–0 win in the two match test series.^[34]

Pakistan played a home series against Zimbabwe in May 2015 after 6 years. This was the first tour by a Test-playing nation since the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in 2009. Pakistan won the T20I series 2–0 and the ODI series 2–0 after the third match ended in a draw due to rain. During the Sri Lanka tour in 2015, Pakistan won the test series 2–1, the ODI series 3–2 and the T20I series 2–0. The successful tour allowed Pakistan to qualify for the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy, removing West Indies from a place in the tournament. The series win pushed up Pakistan's ranking in all three formats of the game.

In September, Pakistan traveled to Zimbabwe for 2 T20Is and 3 ODIs. Pakistan won the T20I series 2–0 and the ODI series 2–1. As a result, Pakistan concluded their 2015 season rankings as 4th in Tests, 8th in ODIs, and 2nd in T20Is.

The sixth edition of ICC World T20 was held in India. Pakistan was in group 2 with India, Australia, New Zealand and Bangladesh. Pakistan started their World T20 campaign with a victory defeating Bangladesh by a margin of 55 runs. But the remaining campaign was a disaster as Pakistan lost all their three remaining matches against India, New Zealand and Australia in group-stage and, therefore, were knocked out of the tournament early. This was the second time that Pakistan didn't make it to the semi-finals of World T20 (previous in ICC World T20 2014).

In a later T20 series in Sep 2016, Pakistan's National Cricket Team won the series with World T20 Winner team West Indies with 3–0. They won by 9 wickets, 16 runs, 8 wickets consecutively.^[35]

On 18 August 2016, Pakistan beat Ireland by 255 runs at Dublin to register their biggest ODI victory.^[36][37] They also won the famous Lord's test against England in July 2016 which was the opening test of the series.

In August 2016, Pakistan achieved the number 1 ranking in test cricket for the first time since 1988, after Sri Lanka whitewashed Australia. Pakistan displaced India as number 1 after rain caused the final test match between India and West Indies to end in a draw.^[38] Pakistan became the 1st Asian team and 2nd team overall to win a day-night test match, which was against the West Indies in Dubai.

Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan, who had been the mainstays of the Pakistani batting line-up, announced their retirement from Test cricket (the only format they played) at the completion of the West Indies cricket tour 2017. Pakistan won the T20I series 3–1 and the ODI series 2–1 in the same tour under the captaincy of Sarfraz Ahmed. In his final Test series, Misbah made history by being the first Pakistani captain to win an away Test series against West Indies in West Indies.

The tournament did not start well for Pakistan, losing to their arch rivals India by 124 runs. But as the group stages progressed the bowling attack improved significantly for Pakistan, winning games against South Africa by 19 runs, and a crucial game against Sri Lanka by 3 wickets. This set up a semi final against hosts England, where Hasan Ali took 3 wickets to then take Pakistan to their first ICC Champions Trophy Final, a highly anticipated re-match with India.

In the final before a packed house at The Oval, India won the toss and elected to bowl first. Pakistan's batting lineup made India question their decision with opening batsman Fakhar Zaman scoring his maiden One Day International century (114 off 106 deliveries), with major contributions from Azhar Ali (59) and Mohammed Hafeez (57 not out) pushing Pakistan to a total of 338. India lost their top order quickly with Mohammad Amir getting the key wickets of Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli. Resistance came in the form of Hardik Pandya, who scored a brisk 76. Hasan Ali, Pakistan's star find in this tournament took the final wicket finishing with figures of 3–19, leaving India 180 runs short of the target and handing Pakistan their first Champions Trophy. The margin of victory was the largest in an ICC tournament final.

On the strength of his tournament-leading 13 wickets taken, Hasan Ali was named as player of the tournament. Post match Sarfaraz Ahmed, Pakistan captain stated (after the opening match against India) "I said to the boys, the tournament doesn't finish here. Good cricket, positive cricket and we will win". After Pakistan's victory, they moved up from 8th to 6th in the ICC ODI rankings. The ICC Team of the Tournament had Sarfraz Ahmed as captain, Fakhar Zaman, Junaid Khan and Hasan Ali from Pakistan.