In a World Cup match in Bengaluru marred by rain, Pakistan overcame New Zealand by 21 runs (DLS) thanks to a spectacular century from Fakhar Zaman off 63 balls. After rain interrupted play twice, Babar Azam's team was comfortably ahead of the New Zealanders in a high-scoring match. Zaman's unbeaten 126 off 71 balls helped Pakistan reach 200-1 in 25.3 overs. All of this was due to weather. Rachin Ravindra, who was called to bat, scored his third century earlier in the day. Kane Williamson, who came back from a near century earlier, helped his team produce a daunting total of 401-6. Rachin Ravindra was New Zealand's tournament star.
Pakistan needed to win this match in order to have a chance of making it to the tournament's semi-finals. Pakistan currently shares a point total with Afghanistan and New Zealand after the victory, although Babar Azam's team still leads the Kiwis in Net Run Rate (NRR). After the victory on Saturday, Pakistan's NRR finally turned positive, coming in at +0.036, while New Zealand's at +0.398. Afghanistan has a game advantage with two matches left (against Australia and South Africa), despite being down in the NRR calculation (-0.330) and even on points with both sides.
In addition to focusing on winning their last group stage encounter against England, Pakistan will also need other outcomes to go their way. We examine every scenario that might allow Pakistan to advance to the tournament's semi-finals:
Scenario 1: Pakistan defeats England and Sri Lanka defeats New Zealand
Pakistan will know exactly what has to be done to qualify for the World Cup semi-finals when they play England on November 11. Pakistan's victory against New Zealand means that, on November 9, they will need to play well against New Zealand in their last group encounter.
If Sri Lanka wins that game and Pakistan wins their last game against England, they will have ten points, two more than New Zealand. Pakistan would need to defeat Afghanistan and keep them from scoring ten points in order to strengthen their position. This may be achieved by either Australia or South Africa. But if Afghanistan wins both of their games, Net Run Rate will determine Pakistan's destiny.
Scenario 2: Pakistan defeats England and New Zealand defeats Sri Lanka
Given that New Zealand already has a higher NRR, this is a more difficult situation for Pakistan. In such a scenario, Pakistan would be hoping that the Kiwis' winning margin stays as modest as possible; if New Zealand wins by just one run, Pakistan will need to defeat England by at least 130 runs in order to qualify for the semi-finals.
Once more, in this situation, Afghanistan will remain a danger, and Pakistan would like to see setbacks for Hashmatullah Shahidi's forces from Australia and South Africa.
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