Pakistan suffered their fourth defeat of the 2023 World Cup, losing a thriller by one wicket against South Africa at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai today (October 27). However, they are not yet technically out of the World Cup. Here is how.

CWC23: Where do Pakistan stand currently?

After their defeat against South Africa, their fourth in six games at this World Cup so far, Pakistan are sixth in the points table with just four points. Above them are Sri Lanka with four points as well, but with a better net run rate and an extra game to play, while Afghanistan sit right below them at the seventh spot with four points, and an inferior net run rate, but an extra game left, like Sri Lanka.

Pakistan’s three remaining games are against Bangladesh, New Zealand, and England. The first and third of those are at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, while the second is in Bengaluru.

CWC23: What do Pakistan need to do to qualify for the semi-finals?

With three games still left, Pakistan can get still get up to five wins and ten points if they win their remaining games. To go with that, they will need to hope that a lot of other results go their way as well.

Here is a scenario how that can happen:

If India and South Africa win all of their remaining games, they’ll end up with eight and seven wins depending on who wins the match between those two sides in Kolkata. That will place them in the top two on the points table.

New Zealand will then have to lose all their four games, which will leave them with four wins and eight points only.

Australia would then beat New Zealand and lose the remaining three games – against England, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh. That will ensure that they finish on eight points as well.

Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, both of whom have two wins currently, should not win more than two games each, capping their points off at eight as well.

With New Zealand, Australia, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka, each ending up on eight points, Pakistan’s pathway to the No.3 spot will be cleared as they’ll be on ten points (in this scenario), given that England, Bangladesh, or Netherlands don’t end up with ten points as well, which they can if any of them wins all of their remaining games.

Complicated? Definitely, but impossible? Definitely not.

In fact, mathematically, teams can still make it to the top four with just four wins and eight points, meaning Pakistan might technically afford to lose one more game and still qualify for the semi-finals, just like England can.

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