India’s victory over Bangladesh has further skewed Pakistan’s chances of T20 World Cup 2022 semi-finals qualification. But, it isn’t all over for Babar Azam & Co. yet.
India’s victory over Bangladesh in the T20 World Cup 2022 Group 2 match on Wednesday has all but confirmed their qualification for the semi-finals. Though there remain a few permutations and combinations that can see Rohit Sharma & Co. miss out, the victory over Bangladesh has given their case a huge boost. Parallely, the result has put Pakistan’s qualification chances in real jeopardy. But, all hope is not lost for Pakistan yet. Babar Azam & Co. still have two games to play in the tournament, and if a few other results fall in their favour, they can still book their ticket to the last four.
Pakistan only have themselves to blame for the situation they are in at the moment. The match against India was such a close-knit affair that it could’ve gone either way. In the end, it was the Indian team that deservedly emerged victorious.
It was against Zimbabwe that Pakistan lost the plot and suffered a highly unexpected defeat. Babar’s men did defeat the Netherlands to keep their semi-finals hopes alive, but the situation is now quite skewed.
Scenario 1:Pakistan win both of their matches (against South Africa and Bangladesh), and South Africa go on to lose against the Netherlands. Pakistan will qualify for the semi-finals even if the Netherlands vs South Africa game is abandoned due to rain.
Scenario 2:Pakistan win both of their matches (against South Africa and Bangladesh), and India go on to lose against Zimbabwe by a big margin so that their Net Run Rate drops below Pakistan
Practically, the second scenario looks incredibly less plausible in comparison to the first, though both the scenarios aren’t the easiest to achieve for Pakistan.
The Babar Azam-led first need to beat South Africa on Thursday to keep themselves afloat in the tournament. A defeat against the Proteas would bury all their hopes.
