Following New Zealand’s five-wicket win over Sri Lanka on Thursday, Pakistan’s hopes for reaching the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 semifinals have almost diminished. To stay in contention, they must now defeat England in their upcoming match by an enormous margin, to surpass New Zealand in the points table and secure a semifinal spot, although this possibility is primarily theoretical. Amidst this scenario, former Pakistani pace legend Wasim Akram has injected humor by explaining on how Pakistan could still qualify for the semifinals.
Wasim Akram humorously suggested that Babar Azam’s team could secure a spot in the semifinals by locking the England team in the dressing room. Watch the hilarious video below.
“Pakistan should bat first against England and post runs, then lock the England team in the dressing room and get them timed out,” Wasim Akram said on the Pakistani show ‘Pavilion’.
The Men In Green derailed their momentum following two back-to-back wins. The team struggled to bounce back after a humiliating defeat against India, and their fate was sealed with a surprising loss to Afghanistan. Both the batting and bowling units proved to be major disappointments, with captain Babar Azam falling short in various aspects. The pace pair of Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf underperformed, and the spinners failed to make a meaningful contribution to the team.
How can Pakistan still qualify for the semifinals ‘theoretically’?
Apart from Wasim Akram’s amusing suggestion, Pakistan still holds a theoretical chance of making it to the knockout stage. In their final last league stage game on November 11 in Kolkata, Pakistan faces England. New Zealand currently maintains a net run rate of 0.74. To surpass this, Pakistan needs to win by 287 or 288 runs when batting first or chase the target with 284 deliveries to spare when bowling first.
However, the scenarios become hypothetical when Pakistan bats second. In such cases, the balls to spare will vary based on the runs conceded. Pakistan’s most viable chance lies in batting first, scoring 400, and then restricting England to 112. If successful, Pakistan’s net run rate would surpass that of New Zealand.
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