How can Pakistan qualify for semi final after victory over Bangladesh?
Pakistan are still in the semi-finals race however they have several challenges to pass before they seal their spot in the top four on the points table.
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Pakistan ended a four-match losing streak in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, by defeating Bangladesh by seven wickets. After securing a decisive triumph, Pakistan advanced to the fifth position on the points table with six points earned from three victories in seven matches.
Despite being in contention for the semi-finals, the team led by Babar Azam still faces a number of obstacles that must be surmounted in order to secure a position in the top four of the points table. To advance to the semi-finals, they will need to earn ten points and win their remaining matches against New Zealand and England.
Additionally, they will need Australia and New Zealand to lose their remaining games in order to achieve this result. Moreover, they will be required to hope that Afghanistan's remaining three matches end in a single victory, which would be against Australia.
Afghanistan, New Zealand, and Australia will all conclude with eight points, whereas Pakistan will advance directly to the semifinals with ten points. Nevertheless, the remainder of the schedule for the 1992 champions—Australia, who are currently in fourth place with eight points—confronts England, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh—making for a difficult voyage. Therefore, the five-time defending champions will aim to defeat at least Afghanistan and Bangladesh in order to conclude with 12 points and automatically advance to the semifinals.
On the other hand, New Zealand (current in third place with eight points) faces Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and South Africa in their remaining matches. Pakistan will need to exert maximum effort in order to defeat the Kiwis by a significant margin and further secure at least one more resounding loss. Despite both teams finishing with ten points, the Men in Green can defeat the Kiwis with a higher run rate if everything proceeds according to plan.
Another opposition that may present a challenge to Pakistan is Afghanistan, which is currently sixth in the points tally with six points accumulated from the same number of matches. The remaining opponents for the team led by Hashmatullah Shahidi are the Netherlands, Australia, and South Africa.
Afghanistan can close qualification chances of Pakistan
Pakistan need Afghanistan to maintain their phenomenal form and defeat Australia while losing their remaining two matches to conclude with eight points in order for the situation to work in their favor. In the event that Afghanistan secures victories in two of the remaining three matches, Pakistan will need to exceed their net run rate in order to establish a compelling argument for qualifying for the semi-finals.
Nevertheless, in the event that Afghanistan secures victories in their remaining matches and finishes with a 12-point tally, all avenues for Pakistan to qualify will be shut. Therefore, the fate of the Babar Azam-led team is contingent on a number of external factors; however, in order for these to materialize, they must first secure victories in all of their remaining matches.
