In the 2023 Cricket World Cup, South Africa and India have advanced to the semifinals. Two berths remain in contention for a total of six teams.
Following the victories by Pakistan and Australia in their respective World Cup matches on Saturday, India and South Africa have already advanced to the World Cup semifinals. The following is the current qualification scenario for the other teams:
Australia (10 points): Currently ranked third, the Kangaroos have two more matches to go before securing a trip to the semifinals. They must win one more match. Their next opponents are Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Should they drop both of their games, they will have to rely on winning outcomes in other contests.
New Zealand (8 points): The BlackCaps, who are fourth right now, have to win their one and only remaining game against Sri Lanka. They would still need to expect Pakistan and Afghanistan to lose their remaining games in order to go to the semifinals, so even a win in that match would not guarantee them a spot.
New Zealand will be dependent on the Netherlands, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka to lose their remaining matches, and by substantial margins, if they are to lose.
Pakistan (8 points): Adopting a similar position to New Zealand, the Men in Green are presently ranked fifth. In order to surpass the Kiwis (0.398) with a better net run rate (0.036), they will need to win their remaining match against England, but they will need to win by a significant margin. They would hope that the Netherlands, Afghanistan, New Zealand, and Sri Lanka would all lose by significant margins if they were to lose to the Three Lions.
Afghanistan (8 points): With two games left against Australia and South Africa to go, the Afghans may easily get to the semifinals. They are now ranked sixth. However, they will have a difficult road ahead of them, particularly while playing Australia, who is vying for a semifinal spot.
Afghanistan’s sole chance of winning if they lose one or both of the matches is if Pakistan and New Zealand lose their respective last games by significant scores.
Sri Lanka (4 points): The Lions, who are presently ranked seventh, will next play New Zealand and Bangladesh.
They need to pray that the aforementioned teams lose their remaining games, and by large margins, in addition to winning the two matches by big margins, in order to have a remote chance of advancing to the semifinals. Their elimination would occur from a loss in either of the two ties.
Netherlands: four out of fiveThe Dutch are in exactly the same scenario as the Lankans, currently ranked seventh. They would be hoping, though it appears unlikely, to win their final matches against England and India by huge margins.
To boost their run-rate, it will also ultimately come down to New Zealand, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka losing their matches by significant margins. The loss would mean the end of their race.
