October 23, 2023. MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai.
Pakistan had just scored 282/7 in 50 overs against Afghanistan in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup. Babar Azam had made 74. Abdullah Shafique 58. Pakistan’s first 10 overs were handled. The total looked competitive. The chase started. Rahmanullah Gurbaz hit Shaheen Shah Afridi’s first ball to the boundary.
Then he did it again. Four fours in five balls off Haris Rauf in the 8th over.Afghanistan chased 283 with 8 wickets in hand and an over to spare.
What every blog competitor’s “timeline” misses is this: Afghanistan’s CWC23 win over Pakistan was not a surprise. It was the conclusion of a journey that began in a Bristol warm-up match four years earlier when Afghanistan first beat Pakistan in any format, and the cricket world dismissed it as a practice game.
Here is the complete, verified Pakistan vs Afghanistan cricket timeline. Every match, every format, every turning point from 2012 to 2025.
Head-to-Head at a Glance: All Formats
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The format split nobody explains:
Pakistan are 7–1 in ODIs dominant, one-sided, rarely competitive across 50 overs.
T20Is are 4–3. In the shortest format, Afghanistan with Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, and Noor Ahmad can outbowl Pakistan’s middle order in 7–10 overs and change any match.
This asymmetry is structural, not accidental. Afghanistan’s bowling is world-class in all formats. Their batting in 50-over cricket without the same depth as Pakistan is the gap that costs them ODIs but not T20Is.
2012–2018: Afghanistan as Challengers: Early Meetings
First ODI (February 2012, Asia Cup, Dhaka): PAK Won by 7 Wickets
Pakistan chased Afghanistan’s 149 in 29.3 overs. Routine. Comfortable. Few observers paid attention.
But this was the first-ever bilateral match between these two nations in international cricket. Pakistan were a ranked Test nation with 60 years of cricket history. Afghanistan were playing in their third major ICC tournament.
The next four ODI meetings followed the same pattern: Pakistan won each time. The scores were not always dominant, but the results were. Between 2012 and 2018, Afghanistan could not beat Pakistan in ODI cricket.
Unique insight: Afghanistan qualified for the Asia Cup 2012 as an ICC Associate not a full member. Yet they competed. Their early meetings with Pakistan were not about winning they were about learning how a Test nation prepared, fielded, and managed pressure. Every defeat from 2012 to 2018 was part of a scouting exercise. By 2019, they knew exactly where Pakistan was vulnerable.
2019: The Year Everything Changed
Bristol Warm-Up (May 24, 2019): Afghanistan Beat Pakistan by 3 Wickets
The match that rewrote the rivalry’s future.
Pakistan: 262 all out (47.5 overs).
Afghanistan: 263/7 (49.4 overs). Afghanistan won by 3 wickets.
This was a World Cup warm-up match: It does not appear in official ODI records. But it told everyone who was watching that Afghanistan could chase 263 against Pakistan on a flat Bristol track.
What happened: Pakistan made 262. A reasonable score. But Afghanistan’s top order Shahzad retired hurt after scoring 23, then Asghar Afghan 42, Najibullah Zadran 42, Ikram Alikhil finding his way — steadily built the chase.
What most people miss: This was the first time Afghanistan had ever beaten Pakistan in any format, at any level. It happened three weeks before the World Cup began. Pakistan ignored it. Afghanistan remembered it.
Common mistake in covering this rivalry: Every timeline article starts the “turning point” at CWC23 Chennai. It started in Bristol in May 2019.
CWC19 Headingley (June 29, 2019): PAK Won by 3 Wickets: Off the Last Two Balls
Three weeks after Bristol. Pakistan chased Afghanistan’s 227/9.
Shaheen Shah Afridi had taken 4/47 with the ball. In the chase, Pakistan were wobbling needing 3 off 2 balls in the 50th over. Imad Wasim was at the crease. He finished with 49*.
Pakistan won by 3 wickets off the penultimate ball.
Player of the Match: Imad Wasim.
Turning point analysis: Pakistan needed 3 off 2 and got them. If Imad Wasim had been dismissed in that over, Afghanistan would have tied the match and potentially won by run rate. Pakistan were 3 balls away from their first-ever World Cup loss to Afghanistan in 2019. They escaped. They did not take the lesson.
2021: T20I Era: Afghanistan Draw Level in T20s
T20 WC 2021, Abu Dhabi (October 29, 2021): Afghanistan Beat Pakistan by 4 Runs
The score that confirmed the Bristol alarm was real.
Pakistan: 147/7. Afghanistan: 147/6.
Afghanistan defended 147 by 4 runs in a Super 12 match. Naveen-ul-Haq and Hamid Hassan took early wickets. Babar and Rizwan‘s partnership of 71 looked like it would carry Pakistan home but both fell in the middle overs.
Counterintuitive insight: Most analysts blamed Pakistan’s batting collapse in the middle overs. But this is where things went wrong at a tactical level: Pakistan did not identify that Naveen-ul-Haq’s back-of-a-length pace deliveries into right-handers at 130–135 kph on a slow Abu Dhabi surface would create problems for Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, and Haider Ali. Three batters who prefer pace to drive. The bowling plan was correct. Pakistan’s preparation for it was not.
Afghanistan’s T20I record against Pakistan now stood at 2–1. Two wins and one loss. The T20I format was no longer Pakistan’s comfort zone in this rivalry.
2023: Afghanistan’s Greatest Year Against Pakistan
Super Cola Cup ODI Series (August 2023, Hambantota): Pakistan Won 3–0
Pakistan hosted a three-match ODI series in Afghanistan’s neutral venue of Hambantota, Sri Lanka.
Results:
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The 1-wicket thriller (August 24, 2023):
Afghanistan posted a target. Pakistan needed 3 off 2 balls. Ali Jan Malik hit a six. Pakistan won by 1 wicket. It was the closest match in any Pakistan vs Afghanistan series. Closer than anyone expected from a format in which Pakistan had won 6 of the previous 6 meetings.
Bold opinion: Pakistan winning by 1 wicket in the 2nd ODI is the match that defines this ODI rivalry’s emotional arc. Pakistan are the “dominant” side on paper (7–1) but they needed 3 off 2 balls on August 24, 2023 to preserve that record. That is not dominance. That is survival. The ODI head-to-head record flatters Pakistan significantly.
Asia Cup Super 4 (September 9, 2023, Colombo): PAK Won by 7 Wickets
Afghanistan made 142 in a truncated match. Pakistan chased it with 63 balls remaining. Not competitive but it was the calm before the Chennai storm.
CWC23 Chennai (October 23, 2023): Afghanistan Win by 8 Wickets — Historic
The match that rewrote everything.
Pakistan innings: 282/7 (50 overs)
Noor Ahmad: 3/49. Afghanistan’s left-arm wrist-spin took the wickets of Pakistan’s middle-order the same type of delivery that had troubled them in 2019 and 2021.
Afghanistan innings: 283/2 (48.5 overs)
Afghanistan won by 8 wickets with 7 balls remaining.
Turning point — over 8, Haris Rauf’s spell:
Gurbaz hit Rauf for four fours in five balls in the 8th over. That passage of play moved the required rate from above 6 to below 5. After that moment, Afghanistan were in control of the chase and never relinquished it.
Original observation: Pakistan’s bowling plan for this match was reactive bring on Shaheen early, build to a spin-heavy middle, then Haris Rauf for death. Afghanistan’s batting plan was proactive attack Haris Rauf before the 10th over, neutralise Shaheen in the first 5, then own overs 11–40. Gurbaz executed the plan precisely. Pakistan had no counter-plan. That is the deepest lesson of Chennai: Afghanistan prepared for Pakistan better than Pakistan prepared for Afghanistan in 2023.
2025: Pakistan’s T20I Dominance Reasserted
UAE Tri-Series Group Match (August 29, 2025): PAK 182/7 vs AFG 143 — PAK Won by 39 Runs
Sharjah Cricket Stadium, August 29, 2025.
Pakistan posted 182/7. Afghanistan chased and fell to 143. Losing by 39 runs.
UAE Tri-Series Final: PAK Beat AFG by 75 Runs
Sharjah Cricket Stadium, September 2025.
Pakistan defeated Afghanistan by 75 runs in the tri-series final.
Afghanistan’s batting failed on both occasions scoring 143 in the group match and a heavier defeat in the final. On a sluggish Sharjah track that turned sharply, Pakistan’s spin attack dominated.
T20I record post-2025: Pakistan 4 wins, Afghanistan 3 wins.
What people think: Pakistan reasserted T20I dominance in 2025.
Reality: Pakistan won both 2025 matches heavily on familiar Sharjah tracks using exactly the conditions slow, spinning, sluggish that suit their spin-heavy bowling attack. Away from those conditions, the T20I head-to-head remains 4–3. Afghanistan have never beaten Pakistan in a T20I outside UAE. On a flat pitch in India, Australia, or the Caribbean, T20I results could easily reverse.
Pakistan vs Afghanistan: First-Ever Test (2023)
On June 13–14, 2023 in Greater Noida a two-day Test.
Afghanistan beat Pakistan by an innings and 39 runs.
Pakistan made 148 and 146. Afghanistan replied with 333. Noor Ahmad, Ibrahim Zadran, and Ikram Alikhil’s combination proved too strong for Pakistan’s Test batting on a spinning Greater Noida surface.
Test head-to-head: Afghanistan 1, Pakistan 0.
Original observation: Pakistan losing a Test to Afghanistan should have produced a systematic investigation into their spin-batting weakness against wrist-spin. It did not. The same vulnerability — right-handers against left-arm wrist-spin on slow surfaces — appeared in the CWC23 ODI four months later. And again in T20 WC 2021. This is not bad luck. It is a repeating technical problem that Pakistan have identified but not solved.
Complete Timeline Table: All Matches 2012–2025
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Five Matches That Define This Rivalry
1. Bristol Warm-Up, May 2019 — The First Warning
Afghanistan’s first-ever win over Pakistan in any format. Ignored as a warm-up. Set the template for what would follow in 2021 and 2023.
2. CWC19 Headingley, June 2019 — Survival Off the Last Two Balls
Pakistan needed 3 off 2 and got them. The closest escape in this rivalry. Shows that even in Pakistan’s comfortable ODI era, Afghanistan were within one bad delivery of rewriting history.
3. T20 WC 2021 Abu Dhabi — First T20I Win for Afghanistan
4-run win. Pakistan at 147 chasing 147, falling short. The first time Afghanistan proved the T20I format was genuinely competitive between these sides.
4. Asia Cup Super Cola Cup 2nd ODI, August 24, 2023 — 1-Wicket Pakistan Escape
Pakistan needing 3 off 2, winning by 1 wicket. The most dramatic match in the rivalry. Pakistan’s ODI dominance (7–1) conceals how close they came to 6–2 in August 2023 alone.
5. CWC23 Chennai, October 23, 2023 — Afghanistan’s Greatest Cricket Win
8 wickets. Gurbaz 65, Zadran 87, Rahmat Shah 77*. Noor Ahmad 3/49. The first-ever official ICC tournament ODI win for Afghanistan over Pakistan — and the biggest upset in a tournament featuring England, South Africa, and Australia.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q1: What is the overall head-to-head record between Pakistan and Afghanistan in cricket?
Ans. Pakistan lead in ODIs 7–1 (8 matches) and T20Is 4–3 (7 matches). Afghanistan won the only Test between the two sides in June 2023 at Greater Noida by an innings and 39 runs.
Q2: When did Afghanistan first beat Pakistan in cricket?
Ans. Afghanistan first beat Pakistan in a World Cup warm-up match at Bristol on May 24, 2019 — winning by 3 wickets while chasing 263. Though unofficial, it was the first time Afghanistan beat Pakistan in any format. Their first official win was at the T20 World Cup 2021 in Abu Dhabi, winning by 4 runs.
Q3: What happened in Afghanistan vs Pakistan CWC23 match in Chennai?
Ans. Afghanistan beat Pakistan by 8 wickets at MA Chidambaram Stadium on October 23, 2023. Pakistan scored 282/7 (Babar 74, Shafique 58). Noor Ahmad took 3/49. Afghanistan chased 283 with Rahmanullah Gurbaz (65), Ibrahim Zadran (87), Rahmat Shah (77*), and Hashmatullah Shahidi (48*) — completing the chase with 8 wickets and 7 balls remaining.
Q4: What was the result of the Pakistan vs Afghanistan UAE T20I Tri-Series 2025?
Ans. Pakistan won both meetings — the group match by 39 runs (PAK 182/7, AFG 143) and the tri-series final by 75 runs — reasserting their T20I advantage on sluggish Sharjah conditions.
Q5: What is the Pakistan vs Afghanistan T20I head-to-head record?
Ans. Pakistan lead 4–3 in 7 T20I meetings. Afghanistan won in 2021 (T20 WC Abu Dhabi, by 4 runs) and twice in other T20Is. Pakistan won in 2013 (Sharjah), 2022 (T20 WC Perth), and both 2025 UAE Tri-Series matches.
Q6: When did Pakistan and Afghanistan play their first-ever Test match?
Ans. Pakistan and Afghanistan played their first-ever Test match in June 2023 at Greater Noida. Afghanistan won by an innings and 39 runs.
Q7: What is the most dramatic match in the Pakistan vs Afghanistan cricket rivalry?
Ans. The Super Cola Cup 2nd ODI on August 24, 2023 in Hambantota — Pakistan won by 1 wicket off the penultimate ball, needing 3 runs off the last 2 deliveries. It is the most dramatic finish in this rivalry’s history.