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Pakistan had their hopes pinned on Sri Lanka to take them through to the semifinals of the World Cup tournament for the first time in 12 years. But with New Zealand chasing down the paltry target of 172 in just 23.2 overs against the 1996 champions in Bengaluru on Thursday, the 2019 runner-up all but sealed the final semifinal berth of the tournament, just virtually knocking Pakistan out of the tournament. As Pakistan gear up for the improbable qualification scenario in match against beleaguered England, batting legend Virender Sehwag shared a savage post on the Babar Azam-led side.
As it stands, Pakistan are still mathematically alive in the race for the semis. However, in a bid to go past New Zealand’s net run rate of +0.743, Pakistan need to beat England by a colossal margin. If they bat first on Saturday in the penultimate league game of World Cup 2023 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, Pakistan need to beat Jos Buttler’s men by 287 runs or more. However, the task becomes absolutely impossible if they are put to bowl first, Pakistan will have to chase down the target within an improbable over span. In simple words, they will have approximately 3.4 overs to chase down a target of 150, 5.2 overs for 250 and so on.
Ahead of the big match, Sehwag took to X to take a savage dig at Pakistan, bidding them good bye and and a safe flight home. He wrote: “Pakistan Zindabhaag! Have a safe flight back home.”
Sehwag further took a dig at Sri Lanka as well, saying that the side played just like Pakistan in the match against New Zealand where they were bowled out for just 171. He wrote: “Pakistan ki khaas baat hai ki jis team ko Pakistan support karti hai, woh team Pakistan ki tarah khelne lagti hai (One special thing about Pakistan is that whichever team they support that side begins to play like Sri Lanka). Sorry Sri Lanka.”
If Pakistan fail to make it through, New Zealand will guarantee themselves a place in the knockouts and hence a face off against India in a repeat of their 2019 match in Manchester. India had lost that game which had marked the final international appearance for MS Dhoni. Meanwhile, second-placed South Africa will take on Australia in the second semifinal.
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