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- Published: October 20, 2023 13:01
New Delhi: The ICC ODI World Cup 2023, is moving towards their deciding phase, and all the teams are giving everything they got to make sure they finish in the top 4 spots.
On Thursday, India defeated Bangladesh by 7 wickets, thanks to Virat Kohli’s 48th ODI ton to stay the only undefeated team besides New Zealand in the tournament.
India also reached the 8-point mark, but winning in 41.3 overs was not enough to remove New Zealand from the top spot.
Check out the points table below:
| Rank | Teams | M | W | L | N/R | Points | Net RR |
| 1 | New Zealand | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8 | +1.92 |
| 2 | India | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8 | +1.65 |
| 3 | South Africa | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | +1.38 |
| 4 | Pakistan | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | -0.13 |
| 5 | England | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | -0.08 |
| 6 | Australia | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | -0.73 |
| 7 | Bangladesh | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | -0.78 |
| 8 | Netherland | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | -0.99 |
| 9 | Afghanistan | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | -1.25 |
| 10 | Sri Lanka | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | -1.53 |
Race for the knockouts
Although all ten teams are still very well in contention for the top 4 spots, few teams now have their journey rather easier than the others.
New Zealand are currently at the helm of the points table with 8 points in 4 matches. They defeated the Afghanistan team on Wednesday, by a huge margin of 149 runs to keep their undefeated streak intact and gave a huge boost to their net run rate to grab the top spot on the points table.
Santner says “#Chennai is my home away from home” 💛💛💛
It was great to play in Chepauk ✌️#CSK #WhistlePodu #NZvAFG #AFGvNZ #Chepauk pic.twitter.com/l0wHyGnKau
— Dhivakar G (@Dhivakar_25) October 18, 2023
India, despite their convincing win of 7 wickets against Bangladesh with 51 balls to spare, stayed at the number 2 spot due to an inferior net run rate than the Black Caps. However, they did keep their undefeated streak alive, and will now face the New Zealand team at Dharamsala on Sunday, for the battle of the number 1 position in the points table.
The moment Virat Kohli reached his 48th ODI century.
– King Kohli, GOAT…!!!#InvestigateMIDC #DaburSeCancer#मेनिफेस्टो_में_गारंटी_दो #FuturePrediction #NamoBharat #TeJran #PAKvsAUS#TigerNageshwaraRao #INDvsBAN pic.twitter.com/ULb2f8Q54u
— Swati Gulia (@swati76380730) October 20, 2023
South Africa still remains in the third spot with 4 points from 3 matches, after suffering a shocking defeat against the Netherlands in their last match. However, they can be removed from the third spot if Pakistan manages to secure a win against the five-time champion, Australia, on Friday.
Pakistan cricket team, despite all the controversies going around, are still firm at the number 4 spot with 4 points in 3 matches and can go one place up with a win on Friday. However, they can also see themselves dropping one spot if the Aussies manage to get a win over them.
Time to pick up the pace
The teams in the lower half of the points table need to step up their game from this point onwards if they want to move ahead in the tournament, especially the tournament favourites, England and Australia.
Let’s keep it going! 👊
Catch our Aussie men take on Pakistan at the #CWC23 live from 7:30pm tonight! pic.twitter.com/MAeJhVtcfY
— Cricket Australia (@CricketAus) October 20, 2023
The English team is currently at the number 5 spot with just 2 points out of their 3 matches, while with a little help from New Zealand and India, Australia jumped up two spots to number 6 also with 2 points in three matches, they can however, grab the number 4 or 5 spot depending on their results against Pakistan on Friday.
Sri Lanka still remains the only winless side in this edition of the World Cup, with 3 losses in 3 matches.
