Pakistan is one of the best cricket teams globally and has a rich history. They won big tournaments like the ODI World Cup and T20 World Cup. But, like any good team, they’ve had bad days too. Sometimes, teams ranked lower than them have surprised everyone by beating Pakistan in important matches.
Here, we’ll talk about five times when Pakistan faced embarrassing losses in cricket
1. USA defeated Pakistan in the 2024 T20 World Cup
This year, the USA got a chance to play in the T20 World Cup for the first time because the ICC choose them as hosts. Many didn’t think the USA team could beat teams that were ranked higher, but they surprised everyone by defeating Pakistan in Dallas on June 6th.
USA captain Monank Patel played amazingly, scoring over fifty runs, and Saurabh Netravalkar’s great performance in the Super Over helped the American team win against the former T20 World Cup champions. The game ended in a tie after both teams scored 159 runs in 20 overs. Then, USA won the one-over eliminator against Pakistan by five runs.
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2. Afghanistan won the 2023 ODI World Cup against the Men in Green
Babar Azam’s team didn’t make it to the semifinals of the ODI World Cup 2023. One big reason was their loss to Afghanistan in the group stage. Afghanistan easily chased a target of 283 runs in Chennai, only losing two wickets. Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, and Rahmanullah Gurbaz scored half-centuries for Afghanistan, leading them to win by eight wickets. Before that, Babar Azam and Abdullah Shafique also scored half-centuries, helping their team reach 282/7 in 50 overs.
3. Ireland eliminated Pakistan from the ODI World Cup in 2007
In the 2007 ODI World Cup, Ireland, a new team to the big stage, surprised everyone by bowling out their stronger opponents for only 132 runs. Boyd Rankin was the star, taking three wickets.
But chasing 133 runs on a difficult pitch was a challenge. Niall O’Brien played a crucial innings for Ireland, scoring 72 runs off 107 balls. His brother Kevin O’Brien also contributed with an unbeaten 16 runs off 52 balls. Ireland reached the target of 133 runs in 41.4 overs with 7 wickets down. This defeat meant that the former world champions were knocked out in the group stage.
4. Zimbabwe defeated Babar Azam and Co. by one run in the T20 World Cup 2022
In the 2022 T20 World Cup, Pakistan came second, but they didn’t start well. They lost two games first. The first was against India, in a very close match at MCG.
Later, they played against Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe defended their score of 131 runs well. Sikandar Raza took three wickets and Brad Evans did very well in the last over. They stopped Pakistan from winning, winning by just one run.
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5. Zimbabwe defeated Pakistan by an innings and 64 runs in a Test match
In shorter cricket games, teams get upset more often than in Test matches. But in 1995, something special happened. Zimbabwe won their first Test match against Pakistan. It happened in Harare, where Grant Flower scored a lot, Andy Flower and Guy Whittall also did well. Zimbabwe made 544/4 in the first part of the game. Then, Heath Streak took six wickets, bowling Pakistan out for 322.
Zimbabwe made Pakistan bat again. Pakistan didn’t do well, only getting to 35/5. Inzamam-ul-Haq tried to help with a good score, but Streak, Whittall, and David Brain stopped them. Zimbabwe won by 64 runs without Pakistan having to bat again.
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