Explained: How Pakistan can qualify for semifinal of Women's World Cup 2025

Rajgeeta Yadav

Pakistan Women's team [Source: AFP]Pakistan Women's team [Source: AFP]

The Women’s ODI World Cup 2025 has been a tough campaign for Pakistan. Led by Fatima Sana, the team has struggled badly and currently sits at the bottom of the points table in 8th place. After losing three straight matches, Pakistan finally earned their first point when their match against England in Colombo was washed out due to rain on Wednesday. However, that single point did little to improve their position in the tournament.

What Pakistan Women must do next?

With only three games left to play, Pakistan’s chances of reaching the semifinals look extremely slim. Still, there is a faint mathematical hope, though it depends on perfect results both from Pakistan and other teams.

Here’s how the table stands after four matches for each team:

Teams
Mat
Won
Lost
NR
Pts
NRR
England Women430171.864
Australia Women430171.353
South Africa Women43106-0.618
India Women422040.682
New Zealand Women41213-0.245
Bangladesh Women41302-0.263
Sri Lanka Women40222-1.526
Pakistan Women40311-1.887

Pakistan’s net run rate (NRR) of -1.887 is the worst among all teams, which adds to their problems. Even if they win their remaining three matches, their total can only reach 7 points, the same as what England and Australia already have.

For Pakistan to somehow reach the semifinals, several unlikely things must happen:

  • Pakistan must win all three of their remaining matches, against New Zealand (Oct 18), South Africa (Oct 21), and Sri Lanka (Oct 24). They need to win by large margins to fix their poor net run rate.
  • Other teams must lose at the right time, especially India, New Zealand, and Bangladesh, so they don’t move beyond 6 points. 
  • England or Australia must lose their upcoming matches heavily, though since they play each other, one of them will definitely go past 7 points.

However, if Pakistan lose even one of their last three games, they are automatically out of semifinal contention.

Even with all the math on their side, the reality is grim. Notably, Pakistan have never made it to a Women’s World Cup semifinal before, and their overall record in the tournament’s history is poor, only 3 wins in 34 matches. While miracles do happen in cricket, Pakistan will need more than just good performances; they’ll need a string of upsets across the tournament to stay alive.

At this point, the best the Women in Green can do is fight hard in their remaining matches and restore some pride in an otherwise disappointing campaign.