New Delhi. AndAs the World Cup 2023 moves towards the final stages, the excitement is building. Australia beat Afghanistan by 3 wickets after a disappointing start in one of the tournament’s matches on Tuesday. Glenn Maxwell played an unbeaten innings of 201 runs. Along with this, the Kangaroo team has also become the third team to reach the semi-finals. India and South Africa have already qualified. The fourth team is yet to be decided. Pakistan, New Zealand and Afghanistan remain in this race. Maxwell’s double century brought happiness for Babar Azam and Co. Because if the Afghanistan team had won this match, Pakistan’s path to the semi-finals would have become very difficult.
Apart from Glenn Maxwell’s century, the other good news for Pakistan is coming from Bengaluru. An important match is going to be played between New Zealand and Sri Lanka tomorrow i.e. 9th November Thursday. But Bengaluru has 80 percent chance of rain. If the match is cancelled, both teams will draw one each. In such a situation, New Zealand will have only 9 points after 9 matches. On the other hand, Pakistan team will lose 10 points if they beat England on November 11. After this his hopes for the semi-finals will rise significantly. Because even if the Afghanistan team beats South Africa in the final match, their net run rate is very bad. In such a situation, they will have to register a big win against South Africa to move above Pakistan in the points table.
In 1992 too, rain made it to the semi-finals
Rain has brought happiness for Pakistan many times before in the World Cup. The team has won the ODI World Cup title for the only time in 1992. In the 1992 World Cup, Pakistan team finished fourth in the points table after winning 4 out of 8 matches. One of his matches against England was called off due to rain. Australia had 8 points in 8 matches and their net run rate was better than Pakistan. But Pakistan got the benefit of rain. Pakistan team was all out after scoring 74 runs against England. In response, the English team made 24 runs for one wicket in 8 overs. In such a situation, Pakistan’s defeat was certain, but due to rain, the match could not be completed. If the match had been completed and Pakistan had lost, Pakistan and Australia would have had 8 points each. Then the Kangaroo team could have reached the semi-finals due to a good net run rate.
8-8 points after 8-8 matches of all three teams
If we talk about the World Cup 2023 points table, the three teams New Zealand, Pakistan and Afghanistan have 8-8 points after 8-8 matches. But the Kiwi team is fourth in the table with a net run rate of 0.398. Pakistan’s net run rate is 0.036 and ranks 5th in the table. On the other hand, Afghanistan’s net run rate has gone down to -0.338 after the defeat against Australia. That means the net run rate of the Afghan team is very bad. In such a situation, even after winning against South Africa in the final match, it will hardly be of any use. Afghanistan and South Africa will meet in Ahmedabad on November 10.
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But if the New Zealand team defeats Sri Lanka in their last match, the Pakistan team will be in trouble. If the Kiwis win by just 1 run against Sri Lanka, Pakistan will need to beat England by 131 runs to have a run rate above New Zealand. In such a situation, Pakistan fans will hope that the final match against New Zealand is canceled due to rain.
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Tags: Babar Azam, New Zealand, World Cup 2023
First published: November 8, 2023, 06:01 IST