New Delhi: The league stages of ICC World Cup 2023, is about to end, and with three spots for the semifinals already acquired, the race for the final spot is ever so intense now.
India, South Africa and Australia have already punched their tickets for the knockout stage, but the fate of the final spot is still hanging by a thread.
Along with three teams already qualified, four teams have been eliminated from the tournament, i.e., Bangladesh, England, Sri Lanka and Netherlands, which leaves Afghanistan, Pakistan and New Zealand, the last three teams still left in contention for the semifinal spot.
Three teams vying for one spot 👀#CWC23 semi-final scenarios for each team 👇https://t.co/wFxCrHa1Fk
— ICC (@ICC) November 9, 2023
Interestingly, whoever out of the three teams will qualify for the semifinals will be facing the hosts India in the semifinals at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday, November 15.
Check out all the possible scenarios for the three teams, to book their flight to Mumbai below:
1] New Zealand
New Zealand, who won all of their first four matches, lost the next four matches and are now struggling to qualify for the semifinals of the ICC World Cup 2023.
Kane Williamson plays cricket today 🐐🔥pic.twitter.com/Uf0s9GqVMT
— ` (@Santhos64i) November 9, 2023
Here are the scenarios through which they can make it to the semifinals.
Scenario 1
The most favourable scenario for the black caps would be, them winning their final match and both Pakistan and Afghanistan losing their last game, in that scenario, New Zealand will end up qualifying for the semifinals with 10 points in 9 matches, while Pakistan and Afghanistan will get eliminated with 8 points each.
It’s ok to support #SriLanka but
But what’s the fault of this man?💔#AUSvsAFG #NZvsSL #CWC23 #KaneWilliamson pic.twitter.com/JZPxzoAn2c— Aliza (@Lizaa_pm) November 9, 2023
Scenario 2
If all three teams end up winning their last match, New Zealand will have to hope that the margin of victory for the other two teams is not enormous, so that the black caps can qualify for yet another World Cup semifinals.
2] Pakistan
Pakistan team 🇵🇰 training hard at the Eden Garden stadium Kolkata 🏟️ ahead of #PAKvsENG match on 11th#BabarAzam𓃵 #NZvsSL #PAKvsENG pic.twitter.com/xMTl5sMGaF
— Waqas Jarh (@WaqasJrh) November 9, 2023
Pakistani teams were almost done and dusted from the tournament when huge victories of South Africa and India over New Zealand and Sri Lanka put them right back on track, and now they are one of the last teams still in contention for the final spot of the tournament.
Scenario 1
Just like New Zealand, the best scenario for Pakistan would be that they win their final match while, both Afghanistan and New Zealand lose their final game. In that case, Pakistan will set up a 2011 World Cup semifinal rematch against the hosts India.
Scenario 2
In this scenario, where all three teams win their final match, Pakistan has to make sure that their margin of victory is 130+ so that they can pip out both New Zealand and Afghanistan in net run rate and get the ‘Q’ in front of their name.
3] Afghanistan
OMG!This…..🥵🔥🏏#maxwellmagic pic.twitter.com/q602I4mU8S
— RZahra Naqvi (@BukhariSayed110) November 7, 2023
Afghanistan might be feeling the unluckiest of the three as they had the chance to get a huge advantage in the semifinal race as they almost won the match against Australia before Glenn Maxwell played one of the greatest knocks in cricket history to take Australia home.
Courtesy of their last loss, Afghanistan has only one scenario left for qualification.
Scenario 1
The first and only scenario for Afghanistan to qualify for the semifinals is that if they win their final match while Pakistan and New Zealand lose their last match, Afghanistan will qualify for the semifinals with 10 points and will face India at Wankhede.
Check out the current standing of the three teams in the points table below:
| Rank | Teams | M | W | L | N/R | Points | Net RR |
| 1 | India (Q) | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 16 | +2.45 |
| 2 | South Africa (Q) | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 12 | +1.37 |
| 3 | Australia (Q) | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 12 | +0.86 |
| 4 | New Zealand | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 8 | +0.39 |
| 5 | Pakistan | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 8 | -0.03 |
| 6 | Afghanistan | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 8 | -0.33 |
| 7 | England (E) | 8 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 4 | -0.88 |
| 8 | Bangladesh (E) | 8 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 4 | -1.14 |
| 9 | Sri Lanka (E) | 8 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 4 | -1.16 |
| 10 | Netherland (E) | 8 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 4 | -1.63 |
