Pakistan team suffered their fourth consecutive loss in the 2023 World Cup on Friday when they faced South Africa in Chennai, narrowly losing by just one wicket.
The recent loss has placed Pakistan in a position where they must rely on various uncertain scenarios to secure a spot in the next round of the World Cup.
Pakistan’s performance in the mega event has been highly disappointing, and they have unfortunately set three embarrassing records during the tournament.
Failed to defend 270+ runs twice
During the period from 1975 to 2019, Pakistan demonstrated exceptional bowling prowess in World Cup history by successfully defending 270+ totals on 14 out of 15 occasions, with only one instance of failure.
In the 2023 World Cup, the Pakistan team struggled to successfully defend a score of 270 or more on two occasions. They managed to score 282 against Afghanistan, who comfortably chased it down. In another match, they set a target of 270 while batting first against the Proteas, but the South African team also successfully chased it.
First-ever defeat against Afghanistan
Before the 2023 World Cup, Pakistan had a perfect record against Afghanistan in ODI cricket, having won all seven of their previous encounters.
This time, Afghanistan secured their first victory against Pakistan on the biggest stage, avenging the heartbreaking losses. This triumph was particularly painful for Pakistan, given that many fans and cricket experts had favored Pakistan to win, highlighting Pakistan’s reputation for being an “unpredictable” team.
Four consecutive defeats in World Cup
Pakistan’s streak of never losing four consecutive World Cup matches from 1975 to 2019 was broken in the 2023 World Cup, where they kicked off their campaign with two back-to-back victories against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka.
Nevertheless, following those two victories, Pakistan faced a string of four consecutive losses, falling to India, Australia, Afghanistan, and South Africa. Notably, their defeat against South Africa marked the first time they had lost to them in a World Cup match (ODI and T20I) since 1999. Experiencing four successive defeats for the first time in their World Cup history underscores the disappointing performance of the Men in Green in this year’s tournament.
Meanwhile, the Green Shirts need to win the remaining three matches with a significant margin. Despite all these embarrassing records, Pakistan still has a chance to make it to the semi-finals. Although it is quite unrealistic, miracles do happen.
