The chances of Pakistan to qualify for the semi finals of ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 are handing by a thread which requires them to win all their remaining matches. Assuming that they lose even one out of their remaining two matches against New Zealand and England, expect Babar Azam and his men to return back home without playing a single knockout fixture.
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Pakistan, who haven’t played an ODI World Cup semi-final since a high-octane clash against India in Mohali in 2011, have won three and lost four out of their first seven league matches in the ongoing tournament. Victories against New Zealand and England, meanwhile, will take Pakistan to 10 points.
Taking into consideration how the current format of the World Cup is only into its second edition, it is to be noted that Pakistan had failed to qualify because of an inferior NRR (Net Run Rate) despite having 11 points under their belt four years ago. Having said that, they will be able to qualify for the semi final even with 10 points this time round if the below mentioned conditions are met in the near future.
| Match | Winner |
| Afghanistan vs Netherlands | Afghanistan |
| New Zealand vs Pakistan | Pakistan |
| England vs Australia | Australia |
| India vs South Africa | India |
| Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka | Sri Lanka |
| Australia vs Afghanistan | Australia |
| England vs Netherlands | England |
| New Zealand vs Sri Lanka | Sri Lanka |
| South Africa vs Afghanistan | South Africa |
| Australia vs Bangladesh | Australia |
| England vs Pakistan | Pakistan |
| India vs Netherlands | India |
Assuming all these results go as per plan, 2023 World Cup points table will look like:
| Team | Points |
| India | 18 |
| South Africa | 14 |
| Australia | 14 |
| Pakistan | 10 |
| New Zealand | 8 |
| Sri Lanka | 8 |
| Afghanistan | 8 |
| England | 4 |
| Netherlands | 4 |
| Bangladesh | 2 |
Shoaib Malik Wants Pakistan To Give Their Best
Former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik, one of the experts on A Sports‘ popular 2023 World Cup show called The Pavilion, has urged the team to not give up on hopes of qualification.
“They shouldn’t be thinking about life after the World Cup right now. You guys are still in the World Cup. Make sure you play well. Give your best shot for the remaining two matches. You never know. Anything can happen. It’s still open,” Malik had told A Sports after Pakistan defeated Bangladesh by 7 wickets at the Eden Gardens on Tuesday.
It is worth of a mention that Pakistan’s NRR of -0.024 could still haunt them at the end of the league phase. It is needless to say that this metric will definitely come into play even if one or two of the aforementioned conditions aren’t fulfilled. In such a situation, New Zealand (0.484) could become the fourth team to qualify for semi-finals as their NRR is way better than that of Pakistan.
