Professional cricket has been played in Pakistan since its formation in
1947.
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
an Australian XI. The match was seen by 5,000 Karachiites.
Ghulam Mohammad was the captain of team
Sind and
Frank Tarrant was the captain of Tarrant's team. 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, 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 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). The team is considered a strong but unpredictable team. Traditionally Pakistani cricket has been composed of talented players but is alleged to display limited discipline on occasion, making their performance inconsistent at times. In particular, the
India-Pakistan cricket rivalry is usually emotionally charged and can provide for intriguing contests, as talented teams and players from both sides of the border seek to elevate their game to new levels. Pakistan team contests with India in the
Cricket World Cup have resulted in packed stadiums and highly charged atmospheres. The team is well supported at home and abroad, especially in the
United Kingdom where
British Pakistanis have formed a fan-club called the "Stani Army". Members of the club show up to matches across the country and are known to provide raucous support. The Stani Army also takes part in charity initiatives for underprivileged Pakistanis, including annual friendly cricket matches against
British Indian members of the similar "
Bharat Army".
1947 to 1970 The independent state of Pakistan was established in 1947 following the
Partition of India.
First-class cricket was already established in the country as many clubs and local associations had previously been part of the Indian cricket scene.Matches were played on an
ad hoc basis in the 1947–48 and 1948–49 seasons before Pakistan's Board of Cricket Control (BCCP) was established on 1 May 1949. Games continued to be few and far between for several seasons until a national championship began in 1953. On 27–29 December 1947, the Punjab v Sind match at
Lahore marked the start of first-class cricket in Pakistan as an independent country. Later that season, on 6–8 February 1948, the Punjab Governor's XI v Punjab University match took place, also at Lahore. These were the only matches that season owing to disruption caused by the Partition.Another Punjab Governor's XI v Punjab University took place at Lahore in March 1949, but it was the only domestic first-class match in the second season.The highlight of the 1948–49 season was the arrival of the
West Indies team in November 1948. This was the first tour of Pakistan by an overseas team.The
Pakistan national cricket team made its inaugural overseas tour in April 1949 with a visit to
Ceylon, where the team played two matches against
Ceylon in
Colombo. Pakistan, captained by
Mohammed Saeed, won the first match by an innings and the second by 10 wickets.There were no domestic matches at all in 1949–50 when two touring teams arrived. The first tour was by a
Commonwealth XI in November and December 1949. Then Ceylon, on a return tour in March–April 1950, played five first-class matches. In October to December 1952,
Pakistan's Test debut was a five-match series in India, the matches played at New Delhi, Lucknow, Bombay, Madras and Calcutta. After
India had won the First Test by an innings, Pakistan won the Second Test by an innings thanks to
Fazal Mahmood who took 5–52 and 7–42. India won the Third Test and the other two were drawn.The
Qaid-i-Azam Trophy was launched in the 1953–54 season as Pakistan's national championship. The first winner was
Bahawalpur. The outstanding player in the inaugural season was the great opening batsman
Hanif Mohammad who scored 513 runs at an average of 128.25 with a highest score of 174.In the first international tour of Pakistan by an overseas team, West Indies played two first-class matches versus Sind at Karachi and a Pakistan XI at Lahore. Both matches were drawn.The West Indies team included
George Headley,
Clyde Walcott and
Everton Weekes.The tourists played two matches against an All-Pakistan XI in Lahore and against a Karachi-Sind Combined XI in Karachi. The tourists won the first match by an innings and 177 runs; they won the second match by 6 wickets. Captained by
Jock Livingston, who also kept wicket in some games, the team had several well-known players including
Frank Worrell,
George Tribe,
Bill Alley,
Cec Pepper,
George Dawkes and
George Pope.An
International XI of county cricketers, most of them English, toured Africa and Asia from January to April 1968, playing one first-class match in Pakistan against a BCCP XI in February, which the International XI won. This was the first ever series win by New Zealand after almost 40 years and 30 consecutive winless series.
1971 to 1985 In 1970, the
Ayub Trophy was rebranded as the
BCCP Trophy and converted from a
knockout tournament to a mini-league format whereby teams qualified for a semi-final stage by winning one of four qualifying groups. The competition's name changed again in 1973 to
BCCP Patron's Trophy.The Pentangular Trophy commenced in the 1973–74 season and the
Wills Cup, Pakistan's premier limited overs competition, in 1980–81.Australia also played three first-class matches against BCCP Patron's XI at the
Pindi Club Ground, Rawalpindi; BCCP XI at the
Ibn-e-Qasim Bagh Stadium, Multan; and Pakistan Invitation XI at the
Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot. Australia won the first two matches and drew the third.
1986 to 2000 Pakistan won the
1992 Cricket World Cup, beating
England by 22 runs in the final at the
Melbourne Cricket Ground on 25 March 1992. Notable Pakistan players in this period include
Javed Miandad,
Imran Khan,
Inzamam-ul-Haq,
Mushtaq Ahmed,
Waqar Younis,
Wasim Akram and
Saqlain Mushtaq.
2001 to present Pakistan's cricket faced a major setback in
March 2009, when the
Sri Lankan team was attacked in
Lahore, leading to a suspension of international cricket tours in the country for nearly a decade. During this period, Pakistan hosted its international fixtures primarily in the
United Arab Emirates (UAE), using venues in
Dubai,
Sharjah, and
Abu Dhabi as neutral grounds. Efforts to revive international cricket began gradually, with the
Zimbabwe team's tour in 2015 marking the first major return of a Test nation to Pakistan since 2009. This was followed by visits from the
ICC World XI (2017),
Sri Lanka (2019),
South Africa (2021), and
Australia (2022), culminating in the full restoration of home cricket. By the mid-2020s, Pakistan had fully restored its status as a regular host of international cricket, staging the
2023 Asia Cup and the
2025 ICC Champions Trophy, and hosting bilateral tours by nearly all ICC full-member nations. Notable Pakistan players in the 21st century include
Inzamam-ul-Haq,
Younis Khan,
Mohammad Yousuf,
Abdul Razzaq (cricketer),
Saeed Ajmal,
Shahid Afridi,
Shoaib Akhtar,
Umar Gul,
Misbah-ul-Haq and
Babar Azam. ==Administration==