T20 World Cup: Pakistan’s Nawaz hopeful about qualifying for semi-finals

SYDNEY: Pakistan all-rounder Mohammad Nawaz is hopeful that the Men in Green will qualify for the semi-finals of the ongoing T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia.

While speaking to Geo News, Nawaz said that Pakistan have to rely on other results to go their way in order to secure a spot in the semis.

The Babar Azam-led unit will face Bangladesh on Sunday in their final group stage match.

“We are focused on winning our match first. If other results go our way, we might also qualify for the semi-finals,” Nawaz hoped.

Pakistan stayed alive in the event on Thursday with an important win over South Africa by 33 runs (DLS).

“The team’s morale is high after winning the match against South Africa. It was an important win for us,” said Nawaz.

“We tried to build partnerships after losing early wickets. Shadab Khan played a brilliant knock,” he added.

India top the Group 2 on six points, with South Africa second on five. Only the top two reach the semi-finals.

Pakistan are third and Bangladesh fourth. They each have four points but Pakistan´s net run rate is superior.

If Pakistan beats Bangladesh on Sunday and the Netherlands goes against all odds to upset Proteas, then Pakistan will finish above South Africa in points table and qualify for the semi-finals along with India.

If Pakistan wins against Bangladesh and India is upset by Zimbabwe then Pakistan and India will tie on points table with six points each. Pakistan will qualify for the semis if that’s the case, since they already has a better NRR than India at this stage as they’ve +1.117 compared to India’s +0.730.

Pakistan can also qualify if they win their match against Bangladesh and the match between South Africa and the Netherlands is washed out.

The washout would restrict South Africa to 6 points but it will have fewer wins than Pakistan.