BIRMINGHAM, United Kingdom: Twenty-seven years and a generation apart, Pakistan’s World Cup bears striking similarities with their 1992 campaign — when they started slowly but ended up lifting the trophy in Melbourne.
An identical sequence of wins and losses, and other eerie parallels, have struck a chord with millions of fans who believe that Pakistan could be set to come out on top once again.
In both World Cups, Pakistan started with a one-sided defeat to the West Indies, before recovering to win their second game — against Zimbabwe in 1992, and England this time around.
At both tournaments, their third game was rained off and they then went on to lose their next two games and win the following two.
Not only that, but the final win in both sequences was against New Zealand, who were unbeaten in both 1992 and 2019 until they ran into Pakistan.
“It was same, the same sequence of results, points and then we wanted Australia to beat the West Indies for us to qualify,” said legendary fast bowler Wasim Akram, who played for Pakistan in 1992.
“Then also we beat New Zealand — who was unbeaten then too. A lot of similarities, I hope the end result is also similar now and we win the World Cup,” said Wasim, now a TV commentator.
In another similarity, Wasim was the leading wicket-taker in 1992 with 18 and another Pakistan left-arm pacer, Mohammad Amir, is second on the bowler’s chart with 16 so far.
“I am not sure if players are following all these (discussions) but this should motivate them,” said Wasim.
But Pakistan skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed played down any parallels with 1992.
“That’s history but after we won against New Zealand someone told me that even in 1992 we chased down New Zealand’s target with five balls to spare,” said Sarfaraz, whose team reached their 238-run target in 49.1 overs on Wednesday.
Fans are now hoping that the similarities don’t end there, and even that they continue beyond the World Cup.
“Imran Khan was Pakistan captain in 1992 World Cup and 26 years after that triumph he became country’s prime minister, so Sarfaraz should also join politics and become premier in 2045,” said one comment on social media.
1992 all over again as Pakistan take identical World Cup path
1992 all over again as Pakistan take identical World Cup path
- The final win in both sequences was against New Zealand
- Pakistan's World Cup bears striking similarities with their 1992 campaign
Pakistan reports current account surplus in Jan. owing to improved trade, remittances
- Pakistan’s exports crossed the $3 billion mark in Jan. as the country received $3.5 billion in remittances
- Last month, IMF urged Pakistan to accelerate pace of structural reforms to strengthen economic growth
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan recorded a current account surplus of more than $120 million in January, the country’s finance adviser said on Tuesday, attributing it to improved trade balance and remittance inflows.
Pakistan’s exports rebounded in January 2026 after five months of weak performance, rising 3.73 percent year on year and surging 34.96 percent month on month, according to data released by the country’s statistics bureau.
Exports crossed the $3 billion mark for the first time in January to reach $3.061 billion, compared to $2.27 billion in Dec. 2025. The country received $3.5 billion in foreign remittances in Jan. 2026.
Khurram Schehzad, an adviser to the finance minister, said Pakistan reported a current account surplus of $121 million in Jan., compared to a current account deficit of $393 million in the same month last year.
“Improved trade balance in January 2026, strong remittance inflows, and sustained momentum in services exports (IT/Tech) continue to reinforce the country’s external account position,” he said on X.
Pakistan has undergone a difficult period of stabilization, marked by inflation, currency depreciation and financing gaps, and international rating agencies have acknowledged improvements after Islamabad began implementing reforms such as privatizing loss-making, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and ending subsidies as part of a $7 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan program.
Late last month, the IMF urged Pakistan to accelerate the pace of these structural reforms to strengthen economic growth.
Responding to questions from Arab News at a virtual media roundtable on emerging markets’ resilience, IMF’s director of the Middle East and Central Asia Jihad Azour said Islamabad’s implementation of the IMF requirements had been “strong” despite devastating floods that killed more than 1,000 people and devastated farmland, forcing the government to revise its 4.2 percent growth target to 3.9 percent.
“What is important going forward in order to strengthen growth and to maintain the level of macroeconomic stability is to accelerate the structural reforms,” he said at the meeting.
Azour underlined Pakistan’s plans to privatize some of the SOEs and improve financial management of important public entities, particularly power companies, as an important way for the country to boost its capacity to cater to the economy for additional exports.
“This comes in addition to the effort that the authorities have made in order to reform their tariffs, which will allow the private sector of Pakistan to become more competitive,” the IMF official said.
