Pakistan Semi-final Qualification scenario: In the match played in Colombo on 25 February, New Zealand defeated Sri Lanka by 61 runs. With this it was decided that Sri Lanka was out of the tournament. It has become the first team among the Super-8 teams of T20 World Cup 2026 to be out of the race for the semi-finals. This is the 5th consecutive time in the history of T20 World Cup, when the Sri Lankan team has not reached the semi-finals. Now Sri Lanka is out but hopes for Pakistan are still alive. The question is how? That too when England has already reached the semi-finals from Pakistan’s group of Super-8. At the same time, after defeating Sri Lanka by a huge margin of 61 runs, New Zealand has also staked claim for the semi-finals.
Latest status of points table of Group B in Super-8
After the big win over Sri Lanka, New Zealand now has 3 points in the points table after 2 matches. At the same time, its run rate has become 3.050, which is the most worrying thing for Pakistan. Talking about Pakistan, it has only 1 point in the points table. Whereas the run rate is -0.461, which is very bad. Now the question is how can Pakistan team enter the semi-finals even in this situation.
What is good for Pakistan?
A good thing for Pakistan is that it has to play its last match of Super-8 against Sri Lanka after the clash between England and New Zealand. This match is to be held on 27th February. Whereas Pakistan will face Sri Lanka on 28th February, in which it will know very well by what margin it will have to defeat Sri Lanka to go to the semi-finals and improve the net run rate.
Pakistan’s semi-final equation
After the result of the New Zealand and Sri Lanka match, if we talk about the equation of Pakistan playing in the semi-finals of T20 World Cup 2026, then first England will have to defeat New Zealand by a good margin. This will mean that New Zealand will have only 3 points in 3 matches and due to the good margin of defeat, its run rate will also fall.
If England beats New Zealand then Pakistan will get the target by which it can improve its net run rate better than New Zealand by defeating Sri Lanka. For example, if England wins against New Zealand by 15 runs, then in that case Pakistan will have to defeat Sri Lanka by 55 runs. If England wins by just 1 run, then Pakistan will have to defeat Sri Lanka by 69 runs to get the ticket to play in the semi-finals.
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