T20 World Cup semi-final qualification scenarios for Pakistan

PERTH: Zimbabwe’s unexpected win against Pakistan in ICC T20 World Cup 2022 on Thursday has made the Group 2 interesting for all the teams but has left Pakistan stranded in ifs and buts to progress further in the tournament.

Pakistan, after defeats against India and Zimbabwe, is currently at fifth place with no points in two games. Meanwhile, India, South Africa, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe are ahead of Pakistan on the table.

India has four points from two games while Zimbabwe and South Africa have three points apiece from two matches. Bangladesh has two points to their credit.

Pakistan next plays Netherlands in the tournament, followed by games against South Africa and Bangladesh and all these three games are now must win for Pakistan. One more defeat will be enough to knock Pakistan out of race for the semis.

But mere three straight wins will not be enough for Babar Azam’s men as they’ll have to depend on the other teams’ performance.

The best possible scenario for Pakistan now is Bangladesh beats Zimbabwe, India beats South Africa and Pakistan beats Netherlands on Sunday. This will leave India leading with six points, followed by Bangladesh with four, Zimbabwe with three and Pakistan with two points.

Then on 2nd November, for Pakistan it will be important for Netherlands to beat Zimbabwe and India to beat Bangladesh and then Pakistan beats South Africa on 3rd November in Sydney.

In such scenario, India will have eight points, Pakistan and Bangladesh will have four each while South Africa and Zimbabwe will have three points each.

All the teams in group will be action on 6th November, where Pakistan should beat Bangladesh and hope for India’s win over Zimbabwe and South Africa’s likely win over Netherlands.

If wishes were horses and all goes well according to Pakistan’s equation – the above mention scenario will put India on top with 10 points followed by Pakistan with six and South Africa with five points.

But if South Africa beats India on Sunday then it will put Pakistan on hot seat. South Africa’s win over India will leave SA with five points and India with four. South Africa will have a game against Netherlands which they’re likely to win and India will be up against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh and both games are likely for India to win.

So, if South Africa beats India then Pakistan will have to pray for Netherlands to upset South Africa and Zimbabwe to upset India and hope for their NRR to be improved.

The situation for Pakistan is very much likely to get clear by Sunday evening. So, lets hope that India continues their winning streak and beats South Africa convincingly to keep Pakistan’s hopes alive.

Comments

Submit