Pakistan stuck in transition in 2025

Youth prosper throughout the year bagging major trophies

KARACHI:

If 2025 had a single defining theme for Pakistan cricket, it was imbalance. The senior men’s side hovered between promise and frustration, rarely terrible but seldom convincing, while the country’s younger teams delivered trophies, belief and a sense of direction that the present often lacked.
Across formats, Pakistan played eight Tests, 23 ODIs and 29 T20Is in 2025. The raw numbers tell a mixed story: one Test win, three defeats and four draws; 11 ODI wins against 11 losses with one no-result; and 17 T20I victories from 29 matches, many of them in bilateral series that did little to settle bigger questions.
 
Tests: control at home, vulnerability abroad
Pakistan’s Test year began in familiar discomfort. A tour of South Africa ended in a 2–0 series defeat, with Ryan Rickelton’s monumental 259 dominating the second Test and exposing Pakistan’s ongoing struggles away from Asia. Saim Ayub’s injury during that series compounded the frustration and disrupted Pakistan’s red-ball planning for months.
Back home, conditions offered comfort but not complete control. Against West Indies, Pakistan leaned fully into spin-friendly pitches. Sajid Khan’s nine-wicket match haul sealed a 127-run win in the first Test, but Jomel Warrican turned the tables in the second, taking nine wickets and guiding West Indies to a 120-run victory. The 1–1 draw meant Pakistan ended the year without a Test series win.
Late in the year, Pakistan began their WTC 2025–27 campaign with a home series against South Africa. They won the first Test convincingly before settling for a draw in the second — progress, perhaps, but still short of authority.
 
ODIs: flashes of brilliance, heavy setbacks
Pakistan’s ODI year can be split neatly in two. Early optimism arrived during a home tri-series against South Africa and New Zealand. After losing to New Zealand, Pakistan produced one of their finest chases in recent memory, hunting down 353 against South Africa thanks to Mohammad Rizwan’s unbeaten 122 and Salman Ali Agha’s 130 in a record fourth-wicket stand. The feel-good factor lasted until the final, where New Zealand brushed Pakistan aside.
Then came the Champions Trophy, and with it, collapse. Playing at home as defending champions, Pakistan lost to New Zealand, then to India — Virat Kohli’s unbeaten century underlining the gulf on the day — before rain washed out their final group game. Pakistan exited early, their net run rate worse than Bangladesh’s.
The post-tournament reset did not immediately translate into results. A tour of New Zealand ended with a 3–0 ODI whitewash, Pakistan comprehensively outplayed. Only late in the year did stability return. Under newly appointed ODI captain Shaheen Shah Afridi, Pakistan beat South Africa 2–1 at home and then whitewashed Sri Lanka 3–0, finishing the year with momentum they had badly needed.
 
T20Is: wins without clarity
In T20Is, Pakistan won more than they lost, but clarity remained elusive. They played 29 matches, winning 17 and losing 12. A leadership change followed the Champions Trophy, with Salman Ali Agha taking over as captain and Shadab Khan returning as vice-captain.
The highs included a 3–0 home whitewash of Bangladesh, a T20I tri-series win in the UAE, and series victories against West Indies. The lows were hard to ignore: a 4–1 defeat in New Zealand, and repeated losses to India in the Asia Cup, including the final.
One moment stood out amid the turbulence: Hasan Nawaz’s blistering 105 off 45 balls* in Auckland, a reminder that raw talent remains Pakistan’s most reliable constant.
Domestically, PSL 10 delivered drama. Lahore Qalandars scraped into the playoffs, then surged past Karachi Kings, Islamabad United and finally Quetta Gladiators to lift their third title, underlining Shaheen Afridi’s growing stature as a leader.
 
Where Pakistan truly won: youth cricket
If the senior team searched for answers, Pakistan’s youth sides supplied them in abundance. Pakistan won the Hong Kong Super Sixes, the ACC Men’s Rising Stars Asia Cup, and, most significantly, their maiden Under-19 Asia Cup title, thrashing India in the final in a performance that echoed the confidence of 2017.
Sameer Minhas’ batting heroics, Ahmed Hussain’s composure and a fearless bowling attack showcased a generation playing without the baggage of recent failures.
 
The year in reflection
Pakistan cricket in 2025 did not move in straight lines. It staggered, reset, stumbled again — but it also revealed something vital. The future looks sharper, braver and more assured than the present. Whether the senior team can absorb that spirit remains the central question as Pakistan step into 2026, still searching for balance, but no longer short of hope.