CHENNAI, India: South Africa thrashed Pakistan Friday to secure a 1-wicket victory in the World Cup in Chennai, pushing Men in Green closer towards Cricket World Cup 2023 exit.
With three matches left, Pakistan requires all things to go their way to avert early elimination from the mega tournament and reserve a berth in the semis. With four consecutive defeats and three games remaining in the World Cup, Pakistan’s campaign in the tournament is hanging on the results of other teams — mainly on matches involving Australia.
Pakistan can find a chance to the semis if Afghanistan or Bangladesh upset Australians in their respective games. Pakistan after playing six games have only two wins and four points on the table. Their next matches are with Bangladesh, New Zealand, and England. The Men in Green not only need to win all these three matches convincingly but also require the results of other games to come in their favour.
The clearest path for Pakistan from here would be to see Australia losing three of their remaining four games, which seems unlikely as two of the games are against weaker opponents like Afghanistan and Bangladesh. So, Pakistan would want more upsets in the tournament.
If Australia averts an upset against Bangladesh or Afghanistan but lose to New Zealand, then NRR could come into effect.
For Pakistan to qualify, the following results can be helpful:
Match 27: New Zealand beat Australia
Match 28: Bangladesh beat Netherlands
Match 29: India beat England
Match 30: Sri Lanka beat Afghanistan
Match 31: Pakistan beat Bangladesh
Match 32: New Zealand beat South Africa
Match 33: India beat Sri Lanka
Match 34: Afghanistan beat Netherlands
Match 35: Pakistan beat New Zealand
Match 36: England beat Australia
Match 37: India beat South Africa
Match 38: Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh
Match 39: Australia beat Afghanistan
Match 40: England beat Netherlands
Match 41: New Zealand beat Sri Lanka
Match 42: South Africa beat Afghanistan
Match 43: Bangladesh beat Australia
Match 44: Pakistan beat England
Match 45: India beat Netherlands
If the outcome of the remaining matches comes according to the above-stated “desire”, then India will finish with 18, New Zealand 14, South Africa with 12, and Pakistan 10 points, while Australia and Sri Lanka will have 8 points each.
If Australia win against Bangladesh in Match 43, which is highly likely, then Pakistan and Australia will tie on 10 points each. The situation will be clearer for Pakistan by next mid-week as the prospects for Pakistan will keep changing according to results in the coming games.
