Pakistan will need to beat Bangladesh by at least 308 runs to reach the semifinals.
Pakistan have won eight and lost three of their eight matches, and took one point from a washout. Their net run-rate (NRR) is -0.792, worse than the fourth team on the World Cup points table, New Zealand, who have 0.175. England’s win over New Zealand in Durham on Wednesday has left Pakistan needing to beat Bangladesh by a near-impossible margin to boost their NRR by 0.98 to surpass New Zealand and take fourth place.
(READ: How Pakistan can qualify for the World Cup semi-finals)
Mathematically, this mind-boggling situation leaves Sarfaraz Ahmed and his team-mates and coaching staff in a funk. Sarfaraz, when pressed to answer as to why Pakistan are in this mess of a situation, rightfully singled out the loss to West Indies in their first match when they were dismissed for 105 and were beaten by seven wickets.
