It is not wrong to say that cricket is one of the most popular games in Pakistan. During matches, the enthusiasm of the people of Pakistan is just amazing. People of all ages love to sit in their homes, in stadiums, and even in malls to watch cricket matches. The craze for cricket is increasing day by day among people.
Here’s a brief discussion of Pakistan’s Cricket History.
After Partition in 1947
The craze of people for sports is not a new thing. In different regions of the world, different sports are played and enjoyed. People have a strong emotional attachment to sports events, and they experience great pleasure and satisfaction when their favorites’ teams win. After partition, this excitement even increased.
History of Pakistan’s Test Matches
Pakistan played its first test match in 1952 in India Delhi at Feroz shah Kotla ground.
Results of first Test Match:
Pakistan lost its first test match but came back with greater potential and won the second test by 43 runs. But unfortunately, lost this test series by 2-1.
Fazal Mahmood and Nazar Mohammad were excellent with bats in this series.
Pakistan cricket team played their next test in 1954 and won against England at their home ground. In the following few years, the Pakistan cricket team was at its peak. Hanif Mohammad was spectacular in this era.
By defeating Sri Lanka in the championship match, Pakistan claimed the Asian Test Championship in 1999.
In 2016, Pakistan clinched top spot in ICC rankings.
History of One Day Matches (First One Day International)
On 11 February 1973, Pakistan cricket played its first One Day International (ODI) against New Zealand at Lancaster Park. Unfortunately, Pakistan lost this match. Later on, the team toured England and beat them 2-0.
In 1992, Pakistan won its first ODI world cup against England under the captaincy of legendary cricketer Imran Khan who also served as Pakistan’s 22nd prime minister (2018-2022). Wasim Akram got the title of “Man of the match” due to his wonderful bowling.
In the coming days, it proved to be a remarkable victory as it is the only ODI world cup Pakistan won until now.
In 2017, Pakistan won the ICC Champions trophy against India by 180 runs.
History of T20I (First T20I)
Pakistan Cricket team played its first T20I at Bristol County Ground, Bristol on 28 August 2006. Pakistan won this match against England.
In 2016, Pakistan lost each of its matches during the group stage.
In 2018, Pakistan was first on the table of ICC’s rankings of T20I.
In later years, Pakistan came with new zeal and zest.
In the 2021 world cup, Pakistan reached the semi-finals with Australia but lost the match under the captaincy of Babar Azam.
The same happened in 2022. On 09 November 2022, Pakistan won the semifinal against New Zealand by 7 wickets. But unfortunately lost in the finals against England on 13 November 2022. Shaheen Shah Afridi, one of Pakistan’s best bowlers got injured in this match.
History of PSL
PSL abbreviated as Pakistan Super League is domestic cricket in Pakistan that started in 2016 when its first season was played. It includes six teams which are named based on different cities in Pakistan i.e. Multan Sultans, Quetta Gladiators, Lahore Qalandars, Peshawar Zalmi, Islamabad United and Karachi Kings, with Multan Sultans being included in 2018.
| PSL SEASON | Year | PSL Winners | Captain of winner team | Runners up Team |
| 1 | 2016 | Islamabad United | Misbah ul Haq | Quetta Gladiators |
| 2 | 2017 | Peshawar Zalmi | Shahid Afridi | Quetta Gladiators |
| 3 | 2018 | Islamabad United | Misbah-ul-Haq | Peshawar Zalmi |
| 4 | 2019 | Quetta Gladiators | Skipper Sarfraz Ahmed | Peshawar Zalmi |
| 5 | 2020 | Karachi Kings | Imad Wasim | Lahore Qalandars |
| 6 | 2021 | Multan Sultans | Mohammad Rizwan | Peshawar Zalmi |
| 7 | 2022 | Lahore Qalandars | Shaheen Afridi | Multan Sultans |
Pakistan Cricket Team these days
Pakistan cricket team is a full member of ICC. They are named Sheheen’s (a famous term used by Allama Iqbal for young, the famous poet of the east), Men in green (probably because of their green uniforms), Green shirts and Cornered tigers (a term used by Imran Khan, captain of Pakistan Cricket team. Pakistan won the 1992 world cup under his captaincy. Before the match, he made a famous speech in which he said: “I want you to fight like cornered tigers”.)
Conclusion
Pakistan cricket is at its best these days. Pakistanis are hoping for winning the world cup 2023which is supposed to be held in India according to the reports. Najam Sethi is the current Chairperson of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and Babar Azam is the current captain of Pakistan Cricket Team (PCT).
