Kolkata: Pakistan’s journey in the World Cup has been quite eventful since their match, against their rivals, India. It all started with some changes in the selection committee. There was controversy surrounding leaked text messages between the team captain and officials from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Despite all this chaos, they now face a game against Bangladesh in match 31 of the 2023 World Cup. This is a must-win game for Pakistan if they want to keep their hopes of reaching the semi-finals alive.
Initially, Babar Azam’s team had a start to their campaign with an 81-run victory over the Netherlands, followed by a convincing six-wicket win against Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, their winning streak was abruptly halted by a seven-wicket defeat against India, followed by a loss of 62 runs to Australia. In their recent two matches, Pakistan faced defeats against Afghanistan and South Africa.
On the other hand, Bangladesh had a start to their campaign with a win over Afghanistan but has struggled since then. They currently find themselves in place in the standings without any victories. Shakib Al Hasan’s side began with a six-wicket win over Afghanistan. Suffered a heavy defeat of 137 runs, against England in their next match. Subsequently, they were defeated by New Zealand by eight wickets.
Their string of losses continued as they were defeated by India (by a margin of seven wickets), South Africa ( by 149 runs) and the Netherlands (by 87 runs).
It is worth mentioning that Pakistan has a track record, against Bangladesh emerging victorious in 33 out of the 38 One-Day Internationals they have played against each other. While Bangladesh is already out of contention for the World Cup semi-finals, they still have an opportunity to qualify for the 2025 Champions Trophy. In contrast, Pakistan’s tournament has been marred by four consecutive losses after their promising start with two wins.
This crucial clash against Bangladesh could determine Pakistan’s fate in the 2023 World Cup, and they’ll be aiming to regain their winning form to stay in the semi-final race.