Pakistan now sits at sixth place in the points table with just four points after losing to South Africa, their fourth World Cup match in six. Their prospects of qualifying for the next round are in jeopardy when they play England,
New Zealand, and Bangladesh.
Bengaluru’s and Kolkata’s Eden Gardens will host the next games. Pakistan still has a chance to win five games overall and ten points with three games remaining. To earn a desired berth in the competition, their future depends on a number of other matches going well. This is the situation:
If South Africa and India continue to lead the table
Depending on how their match in Kolkata plays out, India and South Africa will have either eight or seven victories overall if they win their remaining games. They would be positioned first in the points table as a result. Conversely, New Zealand can only muster four straight defeats to finish with four victories and eight points.
Should Australia lose the next three games,
If Australia wins against New Zealand and loses its next three games against Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and England, they will also end with eight points. Afghanistan and Sri Lanka both currently have two victories; they shouldn’t add more than two more to earn eight points.
Bangladesh and England shouldn’t score ten points.
In this scenario, Pakistan would be at ten points, making their path to the No. 3 slot evident, while New Zealand, Australia, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka would all finish with eight points. But this is presuming that none of the other teams—England, Bangladesh, or the Netherlands—win all of their remaining games in order to finish with ten points.
It’s important to remember that, mathematically speaking, teams may still finish in the top four with just four victories and eight points.
implies that in order to make it to the semi-finals, Pakistan and England might be able to afford to lose one more match.