World Cup semi-final: Sourav Ganguly hopes for India-Pakistan match

Former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly hopes that India and Pakistan will play a semi-final match in the ICC World Cup. Currently, the ‘Men in Green’ are struggling to secure a place in the top four positions on the points table.

Speaking to a news channel, the former Indian cricket captain said that it would be the biggest match if India and Pakistan clash in the semifinals of the ICC World Cup.

Can Pakistan qualify for ICC World Cup semi-final?

Pakistan, currently in the fifth position in the points table after winning four out of eight matches, has eight points. The team has only one match remaining in the knockout stage of the ICC World Cup 2023.

There are two ways Pakistan can qualify for the semi-final. They are:

1. Win the match against England and maintain a higher Net Run Rate (NRR) than all other teams that can accumulate 10 points in the knockout stage.
2. If they lose to England, they would hope that New Zealand, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, and the Netherlands also lose by significant margins. The occurrence of the second possibility is highly unlikely, and achieving the first possibility is also challenging as Pakistan’s NRR is currently poor in the tournament.

Though logically it is difficult for Pakistan to qualify for the semi-final of the ICC World Cup 2023, mathematically, the doors are open for the ‘Men in Green.’

India tops point table

India tops the points table with 16 points, and they have not lost a single match in the knockout stage. The last match in the current stage will be played against the Netherlands on November 12.

With India and South Africa already having qualified for the World Cup semifinals, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, and the Netherlands are in the running for the third and fourth spots.

If Pakistan manages to secure a spot in the World Cup semifinals, as hopped by Sourav Ganguly, it will play a match against India, which is expected to be one of the biggest matches of the tournament.