They came in to the World Cup with great ambition and hopes of lifting the trophy for the first time since 1992 and that too on Indian soil.
However, Pakistan are currently in dire straits after three consecutive defeats to India, Australia and Afghanistan and face the ignominy of an early exit if they don't resurrect their campaign.
So, let's see what lies ahead for the Babar Azam-led side in the remaining matches of the World Cup and their current standing.
Pakistan are at present at the fifth place in the points table with four points from five matches and have a Net Run Rate of -0.400.
INDIA, SA, NZ LIKELY IN SEMIS
Now, when one looks at the points table there are three teams that are strongly favoured to enter the semifinals based on their current position.
Those are the top three of India, New Zealand and South Africa. India have 10 points, New Zealand and South Africa have eight points each and with all three teams having four matches yet to play, they are best placed to qualify for the last four stage.
PAKISTAN CAN AIM FOR 4TH SPOT
Pakistan in their best case scenario can aim for the fourth spot and for that they will have to compete with Australia, who are currently above them based on a superior NRR despite having same number of points.
Pakistan have four matches yet to play against South Africa, Bangladesh, New Zealand and England.
They will have to ensure they win all of their remaining games to get to a maximum of 12 points.
AUSTRALIA CAN PLAY SPOILSPORT
However, they are still not assured of a semifinal spot if Australia win their remaining games as they have five in comparison to Pakistan's four and can get to 14 points.
So, Pakistan's ideal scenario is to win all their four remaining matches and hope Australia slip up in atleast one game.
If Pakistan lose even one match of their remaining four, it will be very difficult to qualify unless Australia lose more than one game in their campaign.
The Pakistanis will also have to ensure they keep a healthy NRR as they are behind Australia on that front.
AFG, SL, ENG NOT RULED OUT
Having mentioned about Pakistan and Australia, let's not forget that teams such as Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and England are also not ruled out as of yet given the fact that they all have five matches left to play.
Apart from the top three, the rest of the teams are tightly slotted in the mix for the fourth spot and it will very interesting to see which of them go through.
Pakistan are definitely down at the moment but they are surely not out of contention in the race for the semifinals.
Australia are slightly ahead of them but only just.
