Pakistan defeated New Zealand by 21 runs (DLS) in Bengaluru on Saturday and stayed alive in the race to the ICC World Cup 2023 semi-final but their path is not that easy and many factors are in play.
Babar Azam-led unit play England in a must-win match on November 11 in Kolkata but their destiny will likely be decided before that as two teams Pakistan is dependent on, Afghanistan and New Zealand, will have played their remaining matches by then.
Firstly, Afghanistan have to play two more matches in the World Cup which, by any means, are not easy as they will be against the in-form teams of Australia and South Africa on November 7 and November 10 respectively.
If Afghanistan win both matches, they will qualify directly with 12 points, above New Zealand and Pakistan.
But, Pakistan’s direct contention is with New Zealand right now as both teams have to play one more match but the Black Caps have the upper hand on net run rate (NRR), they play the struggling Sri Lanka side on November 9 in Bengaluru.
New Zealand is currently ranked fourth with 0.398 NRR while Pakistan is fifth with 0.036 NRR.
Qualification Scenario:
If NZ beat SL by 50 runs, Pakistan will have to beat England by 180 runs.
If NZ beat SL by 1 run, Pakistan will have to beat England by 131 runs.
If SL beat NZ, Pakistan will just have to beat England and they will qualify.
It must be noted that the above scenario is only applicable if Afghanistan lose both of their remaining.
India and South Africa have already qualified for the semi-final of the World Cup and Australia is most likely to be the next team to book their place.
The Aussies are currently ranked third with 10 points and they have two more matches to play, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, a win in any match will cement their place in the knockout stage directly.
 in Bengaluru on Saturday and stayed alive in the race to the ICC World Cup 2023 semi-final){kind=link}