WC 2023: Bangladesh's victory over Sri Lanka will help Pakistan reach the World Cup semi-finals, know-how!

PC: dnaindia

Good news for Pakistan cricket fans! Bangladesh's victory over Sri Lanka eased Pakistan's path to the World Cup semi-finals. With this, the Sri Lankan team was out of the race for the World Cup semi-finals. This means that another rival of the Pakistani team has gone out of the way. India is on top of the points table and may face Pakistan, New Zealand, Afghanistan, or Netherlands in the semi-finals.

Know how Pakistan can reach the semi-finals

Four teams are competing in the semi-finals. To understand Pakistan's semi-final chances, let's look at the current World Cup points table. India and South Africa have secured their spots with 16 and 12 points respectively. Australia is close with 10 points. Pakistan, New Zealand, and Afghanistan are in the race with 8 points each. There is still a ray of hope left in the Netherlands (4 points). Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and England are out.

Australia's fate will be decided today. They have won 5 out of 7 matches, and after returning to winning ways they have won 5 consecutive matches, their run rate is +0.924. Australia has to play Afghanistan on Tuesday 7 November. If it continues its winning streak then it will defeat Afghanistan and secure a place in the semi-finals. Even if they lose, their next match will be against the Netherlands, which will give them another chance.

Even though the obstacle of Sri Lanka has been removed from the path of Pakistan, Afghanistan is still standing strong. The path of the Afghan team is difficult. But former Afghanistan coach Lalchand Rajput is confident that this team can cause an upset. Afghanistan has 8 points from 7 matches in the World Cup. If he wins both the remaining matches then he can reach 12 points. That means Afghanistan is the team that can spoil the game of Pakistan and New Zealand.

Whereas Pakistan and New Zealand have one match each left. New Zealand faces Sri Lanka, while Pakistan faces England. If New Zealand wins, it will get 10 points, which will make Pakistan's task difficult. Afghanistan still remains a challenge with 8 points, while they have two matches left against Australia and South Africa.

The Netherlands also has little chance. They need a big win in their remaining matches to reach 8 points and depend on the defeat of others.