After South Africa thrashed New Zealand by 190 runs, the hopes of semifinals for Pakistan have revived. After seven games each, New Zealand has won four and accrued eight points, while Pakistan has won three and accrued six points on the points table.
Following a crushing 190-run loss of New Zealand to South Africa on Wednesday, Babar Azam led team is once again in the running to make it to the World Cup 2023 semifinals. New Zealand and Pakistan may compete for the fourth spot, even though, on paper, the Kiwis appear to be the clear favourites to land in the fourth spot of the points table, while India has already qualified and South Africa and Australia are nearly guaranteed spots in the semifinals.
To go to the semi-finals, Pakistan needs to win both of its remaining games and hope that New Zealand loses its two. Pakistan have two matches ahead of them: first against New Zealand and the second against England. On November 9, New Zealand will lock horns with Sri Lanka in addition to Pakistan.
Pakistan will acquire 10 points if they win both of their games. The Men in Green would have already vanquished the kiwis in this scenario. However, if New Zealand defeats Sri Lanka, they will also have ten points, but their run rate—which is currently higher than Pakistan’s—may prevent the latter from finishing in the top four. To surpass their net run rate, Pakistan needs to either defeat New Zealand by approximately 83 runs or chase in approximately 35 overs. NZ’s net run rate is +0.484 while Pak’s is -0.024.
While all the scenarios for qualification of men in green is possible, only Sri Lanka beating New Zealand looks challenging considering their poor form in World Cup 2023 thus far. The Lankans suffered a huge defeat of 302 runs by the hands of India on Wednesday, where they were confined to 55/10 in the clash.
Related posts:
