SOUTHAMPTON: Pakistan Women snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, meekly folding to a 23-run defeat against Bangladesh to suffer their third successive loss in Group-1 of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 at the Rose Bowl on Saturday.

In a contest between Asian neighbours, Pakistan — chasing a modest 124-run target — were cruising at 49 for no loss in 7.2 overs before the bats suddenly grew too heavy to lift. What followed was a collapse as sensational as it was inexplicable: needing just 75 runs from 76 balls with all ten wickets in hand, Pakistan somehow managed only 51 runs for the loss of eight wickets to finish at 100 for eight.

It was not a defeat. It was a surrender. At this point, it is worth asking whether Pakistan have simply forgotten how to bat since they left Karachi last month. The numbers tell their own damning story.

Pakistan plundered 237 for seven, 170 for four and 223 for four in three T20Is against a club-standard Zimbabwe — runs that flattered to deceive. Since then: 174 for eight in a 25-run loss to the West Indies, 176 for six across two matches in Dublin against the West Indies and Ireland, respectively, 106 against India at this World Cup, and a rescue act from 50 for eight to 129 for nine against South Africa. Saturday’s implosion from 49 without loss to 100 for eight is simply the latest, starkest chapter in a horror story that keeps writing itself.

This is no longer bad luck. It is a system failing in plain sight — inadequate development pathways, a chaotic domestic calendar, no permanent team coaching structure, and selections that defy logic have combined to drag Pakistan women’s cricket to new depths.

Losing to higher-ranked India and South Africa can be explained away. Losing to Bangladesh — a side that played their maiden T20I as recently as August 2012 — cannot. Not from that position. Not with that platform. This was not a defeat Pakistan can rationalise; it is one they must confront.

And the picture only darkens from here. Place these results alongside the men’s team’s recent record, and what emerges is not a bad week — it is a portrait of a cricketing nation in genuine decline, a far cry from the force Pakistan once was on the world stage.

Pakistan’s men have lost four straight Tests to Bangladesh, and drew home Tests series against the West Indies and South Africa with only a 2-1 Test series win against England in their name. They have lost six consecutive ODIs to India since the 2017 Champions Trophy final, and six straight T20Is to the same opponents since their solitary 10-wicket win at the 2022 T20 World Cup in Dubai. At the men’s Under-19 level, Pakistan thrashed India by 191 runs to win the ACC Asia Cup final — only to lose by 58 runs at the ICC Men’s U19 World Cup 2026 and miss the semi-finals entirely.

Taken together, these results leave little room for spin. Any administrator, pundit or expert still insisting that Pakistan cricket is thriving is not being honest — with the public, or with themselves.

Saturday’s collapse exposed something else too: this Pakistan Women’s side is a one-woman army. When Fatima Sana fires, the team has a spine. The day she does not — with bat or ball — the result looks exactly like what unfolded at the Rose Bowl.

Fatima did her job with the ball, taking two for 18 from her four overs after Bangladesh stuttered to 123 for six, rescued by a brisk, unbeaten 39 from 22 balls, studded with five fours, from Shorna Akter. Nigar Sultana (36) and Sobhana Mostary (22) had earlier Bangladesh’s last 10 overs yielded 75 runs for the loss of just two wickets to push the total to a defendable level.

In reply, Muneeba Ali (25) and Gull Feroza (23) gave Pakistan a brisk 49-run opening stand before the procession began. Fatima Sana endured a rare off-day with the bat, scraping just 10 batting at No. 6, while the rest of the middle-order offered no resistance, no resilience, and no fight whatsoever.

Spinners Nahida Akter (three for 18) and Sanjida Akter Meghla (three for 21) proved far too hot to handle for batters who, at 41 without loss after the Powerplay, looked in complete control of a chase that would soon slip entirely beyond them.

This was Bangladesh’s first-ever win over Pakistan at an ICC event — and only their fifth in 21 meetings since 2012.

Pakistan now face the very real prospect of finishing winless at a T20 World Cup for the first time since 2010. They play Australia at Leeds on Tuesday before closing out their campaign against the Netherlands at Bristol on Saturday — two matches that will say as much about Pakistan cricket’s appetite for a fight as they will about the scoreline.

Scores in brief:

Match 15 (Group 1) — Bangladesh Women beat Pakistan Women by 23 runs, Southampton

BANGLADESH WOMEN 123-6, 20 overs (Shorna Akter 39 not out, Nigar Sultana 36, Sobhana Mostary 22; Fatima Sana 2-18)

PAKISTAN WOMEN 100-8, 20 overs (Muneeba Ali 25, Gull Feroza 23, Ayesha Zafar 11, Fatima Sana 10; Nahida Akter 3-18, Sanjida Akter Meghla 3-21)

PLAYER OF THE MATCH — Shorna Akter (Bangladesh)

PAKISTAN’S NEXT MATCH — v Australia (Tuesday, 23 June), Leeds