World Cup 2023: Who do you think will join India, Australia, South Africa today as another semifinalist?

The race for the last spot in semifinals of the men’s ODI World Cup has intensified since South Africa, India, and Australia have already progressed to the semifinals. New Zealand, Afghanistan and Pakistan are still fighting for the final place.

Australia’s thrilling three-wicket victory over Afghanistan in Mumbai has sealed their spot in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 semifinals. The five-time champions pulled off an amazing comeback to secure their spot on Tuesday night, driven by Glenn Maxwell’s greatest innings ever in a World Cup game.

There are currently three teams competing for the final spot in the knockout phase. To qualify, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and New Zealand must win their remaining league games and hope to prevail in the battle of net run rates (NRR). Any one of the three teams that dropped their most recent league game will drop out of the race.

Scenario 1

New Zealand will be the favourite to play India in the semifinals if they defeat Sri Lanka on Thursday. Of the three, New Zealand (+0.398) has the highest NRR, followed by Afghanistan (-0.338) and Pakistan (+.036).

Afghanistan will need to pull off one of their biggest victories ever to make up for their negative net revenue ratio when they play South Africa on Friday. South Africa is already guaranteed a spot in the top three. Thus, if New Zealand wins, their chances of making it to the semi finals are almost certainly gone.

On Saturday, Pakistan takes on England in their final league game before Afghanistan and New Zealand wrap up their round-robin competitions. Additionally, they will be aware of the precise margin of victory needed to overtake the Kiwis in the race. However, since they are behind on NRR, a significant victory by the Kiwis over the Lankans will also close the door for them.

Scenario 2

if Afghanistan triumphs over South Africa and New Zealand loses to Lanka. After defeating England, Pakistan can move past the Kiwis. Afghanistan and Pakistan will then each have ten points, while New Zealand will have eight.

The semi-final match between India and Pakistan is sure to happen, with Pakistan’s net run rate (NRR) significantly higher than Afghanistan’s.

Scenario 3

if the last three games are lost by all three. Each of them will end with eight points. Once more, NRR will be taken into consideration, and New Zealand will have an advantage over Pakistan and Afghanistan as they currently lead the points table in this regard