CWC'19: Pak out of semis contention, India to meet either England or NZ in knock-outs

Pakistan can no longer qualify for the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup semi-finals despite scoring a challenging total of 315/9 against Bangladesh at Lord's on Friday.

With this total, Sarfaraz Ahmed-led side had to restrict Bangladesh to seven or below runs to outclass New Zealand on the points table and secure their spot in the knock-out stage. However, Bangladesh denied Pakistan's hopes as they surpassed the minimum requirement in the second over of the run-chase.

After witnessing a maiden over, openers Soumya Sarkar and Tamim Iqbal came out furiously in the second over and scored eight runs off Mohammad Amir and thrashed Pakistan's semi-finals hopes.

Currently, Pakistan sit on the fifth position with nine points and a net run-rate of -0.792. New Zealand have a much better net run-rate of +0.175, which Pakistan can no longer beat. The Kiwis sit on the fourth position with 11 points and will head to the semi-finals.

Australia, India and England are the three other teams that have already qualified. England will stay in the third position as they have finished their league matches. Whereas Australia and India, sitting on first and second position with 14 and 13 points, respectively, have one match each to go.

India will take on Sri Lanka, while Australia will meet South Africa on July 6.

If India beat Sri Lanka while Australia lose to South Africa then India will finish at the top position and meet fourth-placed New Zealand in the semi-finals while Australia will move down to the second place and meet third-placed England in the knock-out stages. Otherwise, India will meet England and Australia will take on New Zealand in the semi-finals.

The first and fourth-placed side will meet in the first semi-final on July 9 at Old Trafford, while the second and third-placed side will play in the second semi-final on July 11 at Edgbaston.