A total of 67 players represented the

East Pakistan cricket team Between the 1954–55 and 1970–71 seasons, 13 first-class cricket teams from East Pakistan played in the Pakistan domestic cricket competitions, the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy and the Ayub Trophy. With the creation of Bangladesh in 1971, this participa ...

in first-class matches between the team's debut in November 1954 and its final completed match in September 1969. Representing

East Pakistan East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...

(

East Bengal East Bengal (; ''Purbô Bangla/Purbôbongo'') was the eastern province of the Dominion of Pakistan, which covered the territory of modern-day Bangladesh. It consisted of the eastern portion of the Bengal region, and existed from 1947 until 195 ...

prior to 1955), a former provincial state of the

Islamic Republic of Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, the team can be considered a direct predecessor to the present national cricket team of

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

, which declared independence in 1971. Prior to the

partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

in August 1947, cricketers from the region that is now Bangladesh generally played for

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

, which had been active in

Ranji Trophy The Ranji Trophy is a premier domestic first-class cricket championship played in India and organized annually by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The teams representing regional and state cricket associations participate. BCCI ...

matches since the 1935–36 season. Most of the team's matches at first-class level came in the domestic

Quaid-e-Azam Trophy The Quaid-e-Azam Trophy is a domestic first-class cricket competition in Pakistan. With few exceptions, it has been staged annually since it was first played during the 1953–54 season. Domestic cricket in Pakistan has undergone many reorganis ...

, while others were played in the

Ayub Trophy The President's Trophy (formerly Patron's Trophy) is a cricket competition that is held in Pakistan. It was previously held between 1960–61 and 2018–19 but was refounded from the 2023–24 season. It consists of teams representing the governm ...

or against touring international sides. The team first played in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy during the 1954–55 season, but did not appear again until the 1959–60 season, subsequently going on to field a team for seven consecutive tournaments (incorporating the 1961–62 to 1970–71 seasons).First-class matches played by East Pakistan
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 14 March 2013. For other tournaments the province was split into several sides, including East Pakistan "A" and "B" and the East Pakistan Greens and

Whites White is a racial classification of people generally used for those of predominantly European ancestry. It is also a skin color specifier, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, ethnicity and point of view. De ...

. Several other sides primarily fielding East Pakistani players also participated in Pakistani domestic competitions. In total, East Pakistan played 20 matches at first-class level, although two of these were abandoned without a ball being bowled. As regional Pakistani cricket teams were almost exclusively amateur at the time, the composition of the team was often highly unstable. Of the 67 players for East Pakistan, 26 played only a single match for the team, while only two played more than ten matches— Abdul Latif, the team's highest-scoring batsman, played fifteen matches, captaining the side in ten, and Daulat Zaman played eleven. East Pakistan often fielded high-quality players from

West Pakistan West Pakistan was the western province of Pakistan between One Unit, 1955 and Legal Framework Order, 1970, 1970, covering the territory of present-day Pakistan. Its land borders were with Afghanistan, India and Iran, with a maritime border wit ...

who had re-located to the province for employment or business commitments. These included six

Test cricket Test cricket is a Forms of cricket, format of the sport of cricket, considered the game’s most prestigious and traditional form. Often referred to as the "ultimate test" of a cricketer's skill, endurance, and temperament, it is a format of i ...

ers— Mahmood Hussain,

Mohammad Munaf Mohammed Munaf (, full name Mohammad Munaf Mohammad al-Amin, born November 29, 1952) is an Iraqi–American terrorist convicted in 2008 for his role in the March 2005 kidnapping of three Romanian journalists in Iraq. He was convicted of terrori ...

, Mufassir-ul-Haq,

Nasim-ul-Ghani Nasim-ul-Ghani (born 14 May 1941) is a former Pakistani cricketer who played in 29 Test matches and one One Day International between 1958 and 1973. At the time of his debut, aged 16 years, he was the world's youngest Test player.Naushad Ali Naushad Ali (25 December 1919 – 5 May 2006) was an Indian composer for Hindi films. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest and foremost music directors of the Hindi film industry. He is particularly known for popularising the use of ...

, and Niaz Ahmed No native East Pakistanis,

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

or otherwise, represented Pakistan's national side at Test level. The closest was Raqibul Hasan, who was twelfth man against the touring New Zealanders during the 1969–70 season, and the following season represented a full-strength Pakistan side against a Commonwealth XI. Raqibul went on to serve as Bangladesh's inaugural captain in the

1979 ICC Trophy The 1979 ICC Trophy was a limited overs cricket tournament held in England between 22 May and 21 June 1979. It was the inaugural ICC Trophy tournament to be staged, with matches between the 15 participating teams played over 60 overs a side and ...

, and later played two

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

(ODI) matches for the team. Two other East Pakistan players went on to play for Bangladesh in

ICC Trophy The Cricket World Cup Qualifier (previously called the ICC Trophy and officially known as the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Qualifier) is a One-Day International (ODI) cricket tournament that serves as the culmination of the qualification pro ...

matches— Ashraful Haque and Shafiqul Haque.Ashraful Haq player profile
– ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 14 March 2013.

Key

List of players

List of captains

References