Pakistan cricket team suffered their fourth consecutive defeat in the World Cup 2023 on October 27, when they played South Africa at Chennai and lost a close encounter by just one wicket. The defeat has now made Pakistan reliant on ifs and buts to qualify for the next round of the World Cup.
So far, it has been a disastrous run for Pakistan in the mega event. Following are three embarrassing records that Pakistan have achieved in this tournament.
Failing to defend 270+ totals
From 1975 till 2019, Pakistan only failed once to defend 270+ totals in World Cup history. That suggests how good Pakistan’s bowling has been over the years. From 1975 to 2019, Pakistan posted 270+ totals 15 times in World Cup matches, and they successfully defended it 14 times.
However, in the 2023 World Cup, they have already failed to defend 270+ twice. They posted a total of 282 against Afghanistan, and Afghanistan chased it quite comfortably. Then, they posted 270 while batting first against South Africa, and they also chased it. Although the tracks in India do support the batters, Pakistan’s bowling has been quite poor throughout the event.
First-ever defeat against Afghanistan
Prior to World Cup 2023, Pakistan had faced Afghanistan seven times in ODI cricket history and they had dominated this rivalry by winning all those seven matches. However, Afghanistan made sure to take revenge this time. They registered their first-ever win against Pakistan and that too at the grandest stage. That win did hurt Pakistan a lot as most of the fans and cricket pundits had rated Pakistan as favourites to beat Afghanistan, but Pakistan proved why they are an “unpredictable” team.
Four consecutive World Cup defeats
From 1975 to 2019, Pakistan had never lost four consecutive World Cup matches but, there is a first time for everything. In the 2023 World Cup, Pakistan started their campaign with two consecutive wins, against the Dutch and Sri Lanka. However, after those two wins, Pakistan lost four back to back matches. Their defeats were against India, Australia, Afghanistan, and South Africa. They lost to South Africa for the first time in a World Cup match (ODI & T20I) since 1999. Suffering four consecutive defeats for the first time in your World Cup campaign history highlights how poor this year’s World Cup has been for the Men in Green.
Despite all these embarrassing records, Pakistan still has a chance to make it to the semi-final. Although it is quite unrealistic, but well, miracles do happen.
