The Pakistan men's cricket team are set for a busy 2024/25 season of cricket, with over 70 days of cricket scheduled in seven months. Here is a look at their jam-packed schedule.
The team's cricketing calendar has come into sharp focus in recent weeks thanks to the ongoing situation surrounding no-objection certificates (NOCs) for several centrally contracted players.
On July 20, it was confirmed that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) would be denying NOCs to Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Shah Afridi to play in the Global T20 league in Canada. The league starts on July 25, but the board is wary of the upcoming schedule and how important these three players are across all three formats for Pakistan.
"After taking into consideration Pakistan's busy and packed cricket calendar in the period from August 2024 to March 2025, it has been decided to decline their requests."
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) July 20, 2024
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Pakistan's schedule in 2024/25: Non-stop cricketing action
The 2024/25 season for Pakistan begins at home, as they host Bangladesh for a two-Test series to be played in Rawalpindi and Karachi. This is scheduled for August 21 to September 3. Following that, a three-Test home series against England has been set up from October 7 to October 28.
Just six days after the scheduled end of the England series, Pakistan will travel to Australia for their first away assignment of the season. Waiting for them Down Under is a series of three ODIs followed by three T20Is, until November 18, following which they will tour Zimbabwe for three ODIs and three T20Is between November 24 and December 5. In the first half of December, they will fly to South Africa for an all-format tour.
Kavem Hodge, who made his first-class debut in 2012, scored his maiden Test hundred at Trent Bridge.
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) July 20, 2024
While it is a vindication of the years of toil, his knock is also of significance to the potential revival of West Indies cricket.
✍️@Atrisanfui
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Three T20Is will take place from December 10 to December 14, followed by three ODIs from December 17 to December 22. They will then take on the Proteas in one Boxing Day Test and one New Year's Test to ring in 2025. The second half of January will see Pakistan play two Test matches against West Indies at home.
On the agenda for February 2025 is a tri-series against New Zealand and South Africa at home, from February 8 to February 14. The Champions Trophy is scheduled for February 19 to March 9 at home, and Pakistan are guaranteed to play three matches although it could be five if they qualify for the final.
Read more: England's No.11 problems resurface with few solutions in sight
The string of international matches comes to an end after the Champions Trophy, with a tour of New Zealand. Pakistan will play five T20Is from March 16 to March 26, and three ODIs from March 29 to April 5. The Pakistan Super League is pencilled in for the months of April and May, but those dates are yet to be confirmed.
How much cricket will Pakistan play?
All in all, from August 21, 2024 to April 5, 2025 Pakistan will be playing 9 Tests, 17 ODIs (potentially 20) and 14 T20Is. Taking each Test to be the maximum of five days long, this works out to a total of 76 matchdays (potentially 79) in a span of 228 calendar days. Without even accounting for travel, on average this puts Pakistan on the cricket field roughly once every 78 hours for seven months.
While not all their players will take part in every series or every format, it is understandable from the PCB's point of view that with such a gruelling schedule, they would rather not have their all-format stars take on additional workloads in franchise T20 leagues between series.
However, it can also be questioned whether all these bilateral matches, organised partly by the PCB, had to take place in such a short span of time.
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