Pakistan begin their home ODI season on Sunday, October 18, with another tri-series, this time against England and Sri Lanka. It is the second year in a row that Pakistan are hosting one, and it comes about a year before the 2027 ODI World Cup. The last edition ran from February 8 to 14, 2025, with New Zealand and South Africa as the other teams.
The Pakistan Cricket Board moved it from Multan to Lahore and Karachi, and the series served as preparation for the Champions Trophy. New Zealand ended up winning the title. After having beaten Pakistan by 78 runs in the opening match, they once again wrapped up Pakistan by bowling them all out for 242. New Zealand then chased down 243 for 5 in 45.2 overs.
Pakistan's best moment came against South Africa. They chased down 353 with six wickets in hand, their highest successful ODI chase to date. Salman Ali Agha and Mohammad Rizwan added 260 for the fourth wicket. Before 2025, Pakistan had last hosted a tri-series in 2004, when Sri Lanka won the Paktel Cup.
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Pakistan have played 44 Tri-series in their history, starting with the Benson & Hedges World Series Cup in 1981/82, which included the West Indies and Australia. Their latest has been last year's home series involving the Kiwis and the Proteas.
This year's England vs Pakistan vs Sri Lanka tri-series will be their 45th. Currently, they stand at 15 wins from the series they have. The West Indies are the side with the most wins in any triangular series involving Pakistan. Most of these wins came in the 80s during the powerhouse generation flanked by the legendary Sir Viv Richards and Desmond Haynes.
This tournament will be Pakistan's second tri-series in as many years after going nearly 17 years without playing a single triangular series.
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A home tri-series is the right idea for Pakistan, but it cannot count as World Cup preparation by itself. The 2027 World Cup will be held in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia. The pitches in the last Pakistan tri-series produced totals of 330, 352 and 353, and scores like that will be harder to achieve in southern Africa.
The 2025 edition shows the risk of reading too much into a home tri-series. Pakistan reached the final after chasing down 353 against South Africa. Five days later they lost their Champions Trophy opener to New Zealand, and they were knocked out without a win ten days after that final.
The same applies now. A title in Lahore on October 31 would be welcome, but the six league games matter more. Pakistan should use these matches to settle the batting order around Babar Azam, who returns after missing the T20Is. They should also find out which bowlers can win them matches at a World Cup.
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Deepanjan Mitra is a content writer and editor based in India, with extensive experience working across a variety of sports. He combines a passion for storytelling with an ability to deliver insightful news, analysis, and feature stories and has previously worked for the likes of Sports Illustrated and Essentially Sports.
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