New Delhi: The Pakistani team on Saturday will be taking the field against the defending champions, England, with what seems to be an impossible task in hand.
The Pakistani team, who is sitting at the fifth spot with 8 points in 8 matches, can reach 10 points, the same as fourth-placed New Zealand, but due to an inferior net run rate, they will still be stuck at the fifth spot unless they script a historic win.
Historic here means Pakistan needs to win by either 287 runs while bowling second or with 284 balls to spare. However, the English team would not want to allow that this can see them slipping out of the 2025 Champions trophy qualification.
Pakistan would prefer to bat first against England in their pursuit of securing a #CWC23 semi-final spot 👀#ENGvPAK pic.twitter.com/XIXLGOQbO9
— ICC (@ICC) November 11, 2023
In the second match of the day, the Australian team will be up against the Bangladesh Tigers, in a dead rubber match, except the Aussies would not want to lose their winning momentum right before their scheduled semifinal clash against the South African team on November 16.
While mighty #Australia have already booked their ticket to the Semi Final, for the three other teams, there’s a lot at stake!
The energy is soaring & the contest is on! Who will prevail?
Tune-in to #WorldCupOnStar
Today, 9:00 AM onwards | Star Sports Network#CWC23 pic.twitter.com/WB7GsrtEeF— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) November 11, 2023
The journey of the four teams so far
The team with the most attention today is going to be the Pakistani team, who have to perform a miracle if they wish to qualify for the final four.
They started their campaign with two consecutive wins against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka by 81 runs and 6 wickets, respectively, but they slipped out of form after that and lost four games in a row against India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa, by 7 wickets, 62 runs, 8 wickets and 1 wicket, respectively.
Thank you Fakhar Zaman for ensuring we have some happy memories from this nightmare of a World Cup. Forever in your debt, we will never forget 💚 pic.twitter.com/FN138wKY4W
— Cricket & Stuff (@cricketandstuff) November 10, 2023
However, they once again picked up their pace by winning the next two games by 7 wickets and 21 runs against Bangladesh and New Zealand. A win on Saturday will take them to the cutoff of 10 points, but they will still be eliminated if their net run rate doesn’t go above New Zealand.
Defending Champions #England are facing them.
Can #Pakistan defy all odds and make it to the Semi-finals?
Tune-in to #ENGvPAK in #WorldCupOnStar
Today, 1:30 PM pic.twitter.com/lRhLxKZWTa— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) November 11, 2023
The defending champions, England, on the other hand, had a season to forget as it took them 28 days to get their second win in the tournament.
The English side has only been able to win two matches out of their 8 matches and was the second team to be officially eliminated from the tournament.
“The problem is that we’ve been crap.”
Ben Stokes isn’t sugar-coating England’s World Cup form #CWC23 pic.twitter.com/V81TnmTxy9
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) November 3, 2023
Their only solace would be to clinch the 2025 Champions Trophy qualification, which also seems like a tough nut to crack for them at one point.
In the second match, the Aussies will be taking the field with confidence against the already-eliminated Bangladeshi Tigers, after winning their last 6 matches in a row.
Maxwell – The GOAT on how he continued with horrible cramps!#AUSvsAFG #AUSvsAFG #Maxwell#MaxwellMagic pic.twitter.com/VuGZ9fznZe
— H G Tannhaus (@tannhaushg) November 8, 2023
The match is basically a dead rubber, with both teams having the polar opposite fate after the league stages, but at the same time, this will give Australia time to check their bench strength and the much-needed rest to some of their core squad members before the all-important clash against the Proteas.
Head-to-head record
If we take a look at the head-to-head records of these teams in World Cups, then for the Pakistan vs England game, the former had a lead of 5 to 4 in 10 matches, which will give them some much-needed confidence right before their match.
While in the Australia vs Bangladesh match, the five-time champions have a clear 3-0 lead over the Bangladeshi team.
