How can Pakistan reach the World Cup 2019 semi-final?

There are few matches left of the World Cup league phase and the situation has become very interesting for teams to book their place in the semi-finals.

Sri Lanka has been eliminated from the tournament after England’s victory on Sunday.

Australia is the only team so far that has sealed its place in the semi-finals with 14 points after eight matches. Meanwhile, as many as three more teams have to qualify for the semi-finals out of the five contenders.

India is second with eleven points and has two matches left. New Zealand is ranked third with eleven points in the eight matches, and England is at fourth on the points-table with ten points in eight matches—both teams have one match left.

Pakistan is ranked fifth with nine points in eight matches while Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, after playing seven matches, are ranked sixth and seventh with seven and six points respectively.

The semi-final battle:

India has to win one of the remaining two matches for direct access to the semi-finals. Even though if they lose both of their remaining matches, they can still qualify for the semi-finals with better run-rate.

Similarly, New Zealand needs a victory but its next match will be with England, which will decide the fate of both teams—the winner of that match will qualify for the semi-finals.

Pakistan will have to defeat Bangladesh on July 5 to qualify for the semi-finals and also have to rely on the result of the match between England and New Zealand.

If England beat New Zealand and Pakistan beat Bangladesh, then the green shirts will qualify for the semi-finals. If that does not happen and Pakistan and England both manage to win their last matches, then the decision to reach the semifinal between New Zealand and Pakistan will be on run rate.

Bangladesh is likely to go to the semi-finals if Bangladesh wins both of it’s remaining two matches, which are against India and Pakistan, but in that case, England will have to lose their match against New Zealand.

The Sri Lankan team is out of the event while Afghanistan, South Africa and West Indies are already out of the tournament.