With the 2026 T20 World Cup on the horizon, a revamped Pakistan side under new head coach Mike Hesson begins its rebuild by hosting a youthful Bangladesh team in a three-match series starting Wednesday in Lahore.
The 2009 champions are coming off a dismal year, having exited in the first round of the 2024 World Cup and managing just three wins in their last 13 Twenty20 internationals – two of them against lowly Zimbabwe. The slump has seen them drop to eighth in the ICC T20I rankings.
Now led by New Zealand’s Hesson, Pakistan is turning to fresh talent as it attempts to reset course with the World Cup in India and Sri Lanka just eight months away.
Star batters Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, along with pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi, have all been dropped.
Salman Agha will lead the side, having lost a series in New Zealand 4-1 two months ago.
“We’ve been really clear around the style of play we want, and then it’s about picking players that can do that,” said Hesson, who coached New Zealand from 2012 to 2018.
“We’ve got a good number of T20Is between now and the World Cup.
“We will develop a depth of squad playing the way we want, and the rankings will come in time, because it is about the way we want to play.”
Bangladesh, ranked ninth, is in the same boat.
It has won just four of its last 12 T20Is and lost series against lower-ranked United States in 2024 and United Arab Emirates earlier this month.
The team also has a new coach in West Indian Phil Simmons, who will be missing senior players including Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan, Mohammad Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim – all either fully retired or retired from the T20I format.
“We’re aiming to improve our cricket by performing well in this series,” said Simmons, who took over in October.
Front-line fast bowlers Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman are nursing injuries, while new pace sensation Nahid Rana withdrew from the tour over security concerns following cross-border tensions between India and Pakistan.
The conflict had cast doubt over the tour, but Bangladesh eventually agreed to play three T20Is instead of the originally scheduled five.
The remaining matches are set for Friday and Sunday, also in Lahore.
