New Delhi: ICC World Cup 2023, is nearing its conclusion as the race for the remaining three spots in the semifinals is intensifying with every match.
Saturday, November 4, is going to be a doubleheader day as it will see New Zealand taking on Pakistan, while the five-time Aussies will be up against the defending champions England.
If New Zealand and Australia manage to win their match, it will end the campaign of as many as 4 teams, i.e., Pakistan, England, Sri Lanka and the Netherlands.
However, if they both lose their game, the tournament will remain wide open for everyone except Bangladesh, who are already eliminated from the tournament.
At the same time, if any one of the New Zealand or Australia loses their match, they will be under tremendous pressure in their remaining matches as they will be well within the reach of the elimination axe.
With two crucial #CWC23 matches coming up, here’s the scenario for each team to make the semi-finals 🏆
More ➡ https://t.co/UeD4BQAgVf pic.twitter.com/TrOjdf3Xbh
— ICC (@ICC) November 4, 2023
Journey till now
Australian team, who are currently in the third spot, are relatively safer than the other three teams, as despite starting their campaign with two back-to-back losses against India and South Africa, they managed to make a tremendous comeback by winning 4 matches in a row against Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Netherlands and New Zealand, resulting them rising from the bottom of the table to the third spot.
While Australia has the best rise in the tournament, the fourth spot New Zealand holds the record for the best downfall in the tournament. The black caps were once at the top of the table after winning 4 out of their 4 matches but then lost three games in a row, and they now stand at the fourth spot.
The situation can turn from bad to worse if they lose the game on Sunday, which will result in them being dependent on other teams to qualify for the final four.
Today’s @mrfworldwide Key Battles features a showdown among speedsters 💥
Which pacer helps his team to victory?#NZvPAK | #CWC23 pic.twitter.com/VnkNMnxUvu
— ICC (@ICC) November 4, 2023
Pakistan team will be calling themselves the luckiest team of all as they not only made their way back into the winner’s list, but the other results have also gone in their favour since then, as South Africa and India defeated New Zealand and Sri Lanka by a huge margin to give the Pakistani campaign a huge boost, so much so that if they manage to win their remaining two matches, they can easily see themselves slipping into the top 4.
Even though mathematically they are still in contention, the defending champions, England, know that they are as good as gone after being placed at the bottom of the points table after 34 matches.
However, they still have some fight for the pride left. They would want to finish in the top 8 to get the Champions trophy qualification and to do that win the match against Australia on Saturday.
Head-to-head records
If we are to look at the head-to-head records of New Zealand and Pakistan, the latter has been superior to the former by a great margin.
New Zealand and Pakistan have met each other 9 times before in the World Cup history, where Pakistan have emerged victorious in 7 matches while New Zealand have managed to get a ‘W’ in only two matches.
On the other hand, Australia and England have locked horns against each other 9 times in which the five-time champions have the edge over the defending champions with 6-3.
