New Delhi: The Pakistani cricket team was expected to be one of the most dangerous teams going into the ICC World Cup 2023. With the advantage of the subcontinent and form on their side, they were at least expected to make it to the semis, but they have fallen flat with their performance.
Pakistani team are currently at the seventh spot in the points table with 2 wins in 6 matches and a total of just 4 points in hand. They have a huge gap between them and the top 4 spots, and it will take a number of miracles to take place if they want to hold the thread of optimism in their hand and walk into the semifinals.
Fakhar Zaman is still hopeful for qualification in semifinal – “Pakistan has a history of not accepting the defeat. Pakistan Cricket Team is still hopeful for betterment in the WorldCup. We are working hard and want to win our last three matches in the WorldCup.” #CWC23 pic.twitter.com/xBAJomZQVP
— Arfa Feroz Zake (@ArfaSays_) October 29, 2023
What they can do themselves
Pakistan’s team have to be heavily dependent on luck to make it to the final four, but before that, they need to get their part done first.
Pakistan started the ICC 2023 World Cup with two back-to-back wins against Netherlands and Sri Lanka by 81 runs and six wickets, however, nothing has gone their way since then. They have been forced to be on a four-match losing streak, going down against India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa by 7 wickets, 62 runs, 8 and 1 wickets, respectively.
As they only have two wins in comparison to 4 losses, they first need to win all three remaining matches and reach up to 10 points to give themselves an outside chance.
They will be facing Bangladesh on the 31st of October, New Zealand on the 4th of November and England on the 11th of November.
Complete fixtures of Pakistan cricket team 🇵🇰 #CricketTwitter #CWC2023 #CWC23 #Debate2023 #biggbosstamil7 #Pakistan #BabarAzam #adp2023 #PAKvsAUS #PAKvAUS #PakistanCricket #Percy #AsianGames #PAKvHK #INDvsNEP #SLvAFG #INDvNED #LokiSeason2 #ToryPartyConference pic.twitter.com/qj13pK9eR4
— Fourth Umpire (@UmpireFourth) October 3, 2023
They need to win all three and also have to make sure that their margin of victories is big so that they can outrank any team if it comes to the net run rate scenario for qualification.
Favors from other teams
Despite winning all three matches and reaching the 10-point mark, Pakistan still needs other results to go in their favour if they want to qualify.
First, they will need Australia to lose all their matches against Afghanistan, England and Bangladesh and remain on a total of 8 points.
#CWC2023 #PAKvsSA #CricketWorldCup
Pakistan need to start chanting this in their hearts to qualify for semifinals pic.twitter.com/isjw0UW3ms— Known Sense (@UtsavShah166976) October 27, 2023
They will also need Sri Lanka to lose two of their remaining three matches so that they will finish at 6 points in total.
They will also need Afghanistan to win only against the Aussies and drop points against both the Netherlands and South Africa.
If all these results go their way, they will make it to the final four with 10 points in their account.
Another way
They have another set of fixtures to qualify, but this time, New Zealand has to lose all their matches and end up with only 8 points and for the rest, they need both Sri Lanka and Afghanistan to lose two of their remaining three matches. In that case, Pakistan will make their way into the final four with only 10 points in account.
Ball 5 : full toss. Neesham misses . Gets run out. Brilliant keeping by inglis there.
Big chance missed to script history. pic.twitter.com/QaJchLjvXy
— Basra!!!! (@basrasahab) October 28, 2023
