In match 44 of the ODI World Cup 2023, England (ENG) and Pakistan (PAK) square off at the storied Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Saturday, November 11.
England’s campaign was forgettable, and they have already been eliminated. In just two of the eight games they have played, the reigning champs have prevailed. Before defeating the Netherlands in their previous meeting, they had a run of five straight losses. Sri Lanka did not give Pakistan any favours as they lost their match against New Zealand handily, therefore ending the team captained by Babar Azam‘s ambitions of making it to the semi-finals.
When the two best cricket teams meet in the sports-mad city of Kolkata, expect them to give it their all, regardless of the stakes. The likelihood of rain acting as a spoiler is relatively low. There’s just a 5% probability of rain, according to weather.com. It is predicted that the temperature will be 32°C during the day and decrease to 26°C at night, with humidity on the higher side.
England wants to qualify for the ICC Champions Trophy, while Pakistan needs a miracle to go to the semifinals.
The top eight teams in the points standings after the conclusion of the league stage of the 2023 ODI World Cup will advance to play for the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy, which will take place in Pakistan, according to a recent announcement by the International Cricket Council (ICC). With their nose stuck in the bottom half of the points standings, England were in danger of missing out on the coveted competition. But their victory over the Netherlands by 160 runs has catapulted them up to eighth place. They will finish in the top eight if they defeat Pakistan.
Pakistan is the hosts and has automatically qualified for the Champions Trophy, therefore they don’t need to bother about qualifying. However, after winning consecutive games against Bangladesh and New Zealand, they had revived aspirations of reaching the World Cup semifinals. But after the Kiwis easily defeated Sri Lanka, the ‘Men in Green’ now face the enormous task of defeating England by a huge margin. With a net run-rate (NRR) of +0.743, New Zealand has won five of their nine games. Pakistan can catch up with the Blackcaps on points if they win their match against England. But in order to get their NRR of +0.036 over that of Kane Williamson’s team, they will have to pull off the unimaginable.
To put things into perspective, Pakistan’s NRR must surpass New Zealand if they bat first and score 400, thereby restricting England to 112 runs. Pakistan will have an extremely difficult time chasing the score in 2.4 overs if England wins the toss and chooses to bat first.
India
