How can Pakistan qualify for the Super 8 round of the T20 World Cup 2024

Pakistan are in a precarious situation after back-to-back defeats in their initial two games against the United States in Dallas and India in New York.
 By Darpan Jain Updated: Jun 12, 2024, 16:01 IST
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However, Pakistan made a strong comeback against Canada, firing in tandem and showing their ruthless side for the first time in the competition.

Pakistan are in a precarious situation after back-to-back defeats in their initial two games against the United States in Dallas and India in New York. Ideally, they should have won both games but crumbled under pressure to lose on both occasions, which slimmed their chances of advancing to the next stage.

However, Pakistan made a strong comeback against Canada, firing in tandem and showing their ruthless side for the first time in the competition. They defeated Canada by seven wickets with 15 balls spare to earn their maiden victory of the competition to rise to third place, boosting their net run rate (+0.191) and keeping themselves alive.

To qualify from the current standings, Pakistan first need to win their remaining encounter against Ireland in Florida on Sunday (June 16). That would take them to four points in as many games.

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Then, the United States shouldn’t win any of their two remaining fixtures against India and Ireland, so they don’t get any points further. If the opponents facing the USA score 140 in both games while batting first, the USA should lose by five or more runs both times in the chase to keep Pakistan’s NRR better than the USA’s.

Then, Canada and Ireland should lose at least one more game from their left ones. Since Canada’s net run rate (-0.493) is negative, one more win, albeit with a small margin, won’t really affect Pakistan, who have a better NRR.

The NRR won’t be a significant issue for Pakistan following their thumping victory over Canada last night. All they need is teams losing as described above and will qualify for the Super Eight round.

Apart from these results going their way, Pakistan would also want rain to stay away from their game against Ireland in Florida. Unfortunately for Pakistan, the weather doesn’t look promising for the whole week, and one of the fixtures between Sri Lanka and Nepal here has already been abandoned due to incessant rain earlier today.

Heavy thunderstorms are forecast on every match day in Florida. The USA will also take on Ireland at the same venue, and if the match doesn’t happen, the USA will earn a point, knocking out Pakistan since they can’t get five or more points now.

For the Babar Azam-led side to qualify, all Pakistan’s and the USA’s remaining encounters must have a result. Pakistan must play and pray hard to script a miraculous comeback and qualify for the next stage.

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