After New Zealand’s 190-run defeat by South Africa in the World Cup 2023, the race to reach the semi-finals has entered an interesting phase and now, along with the Kiwis, the teams of Pakistan and Afghanistan can also reach the semi-finals.
In the World Cup, South Africa and hosts India have already won six matches and qualified for the semi-finals, while the Australian team, who won four matches, is also certain to reach the next stage as they have two of their next three matches against Afghanistan and Bangladesh. To play against weaker opponents like Desh.
So far in the World Cup, New Zealand has 8 points from 7 matches, Pakistan has 6 points from 7 matches and Afghanistan has 6 points from 6 matches.
To reach the semi-finals, the Pakistan team not only needs to win the next two matches but also has to surpass New Zealand in the net run rate.
In the next two matches, the Green Shirts will face the finalist teams of the World Cup, New Zealand, and the defending champions, England.
Currently, Pakistan’s run rate is minus 0.024 and New Zealand’s is 0.484. If Pakistan beat New Zealand by 83 runs or more in the next match or bat later and achieve the target in 35 overs, they will overtake the Kiwis in run rate.
Even after the match between Pakistan and New Zealand, the final four teams will be decided only after Pakistan’s match against England and New Zealand’s match against Sri Lanka.
Even in this case, Pakistan will not only have to defeat the defending champion, but the national team will have the advantage that since the New Zealand team will have played a match against Sri Lanka, it will have an idea of reaching the semi-finals. So by how much margin does he need to win against England?
If the Pakistan team loses against New Zealand, then all the doors will be closed for them to reach the semi-finals and a win against England will also be of no use.
On the other hand, the Afghanistan team is also the main contender to play the semi-finals, and victory in two of the next three matches will also pave the way for them.
Having beaten world champions England, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, the Afghan team next faces an easy opponent like the Netherlands, but their biggest challenge is that they have to play their last two matches against the likes of Australia and Afghanistan.
If the Afghanistan team wins three matches, there will be no obstacle to reaching the semi-finals, while after defeating the Netherlands, if they defeat either Australia or South Africa, they will be among the final four teams. Hopes of inclusion will remain bright.
However, if the Afghanistan team wins five matches, then the issue will come down to the run rate and Afghanistan’s run rate is very bad at the moment, so the team with a negative 0.718 run rate must win the next three matches for the next stage.
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