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Ben Stokes's brilliant 84, Joe Root's 60, and contributions from the other players helped England, who batted first, achieve a massive score of 337 for 9 in 50 overs at the Eden Gardens.
Digital desk: Pakistan's luck ran out in the World Cup 2023 league final. They had a mathematical opportunity to go to the tournament's semi-finals, but they needed to defeat England handily in their last league match on Saturday, November 11 in Kolkata.
However, England winning the toss and choosing to bat dealt a severe blow to Pakistan's hopes from the very first toss. The only way Pakistan could pull off an unexpected victory was if they batted first and won by 287 runs.
Ben Stokes's brilliant 84, Joe Root's 60, and contributions from the other players helped England, who batted first, achieve a massive score of 337 for 9 in 50 overs at the Eden Gardens.
With 338 to chase in just 6.4 overs, Pakistan's already unlikely equation becomes much more difficult. The World Cup-retiring David Willey claimed both of Pakistan's opening wickets in the first three overs, as the country got off to a terrible start losing to openers Abdullah Shafique and Fakhar Zaman.
While Willey was moving the new ball under lights in Kolkata, Pakistan placed a lot of faith in Fakhar Zaman to help them reach a massive total on Saturday. However, the left-handed opener went for 1 after facing 9 balls.
After 6.4 overs, Pakistan was declared out of the semi-final race with 30 for 2.
In the event, it was also determined who the four semi-finalists were. India will play New Zealand in the opening semi-final on Wednesday in Mumbai. On November 16, Australia, who destroyed Bangladesh after successfully pursuing 307, will play South Africa in Kolkata.
SEMI-FINAL LINE-UP
India vs New Zealand in Mumbai on November 15
South Africa vs Australia in Kolkata on November 16
The poor performance of Pakistan
Pakistan has only advanced to the ODI World Cup semifinals once since the turn of the century. Pakistan has not fared well in the 50-over format, even if they have been consistent in T20 World Cups.
Additionally, Pakistan failed to get to the semifinals for the third time in the previous editions.
The 1992 winners were last seen in the semifinals in 2011, as they were defeated in Mohali by eventual winners India.
PAKISTAN'S SHOWING IN WORLD CUPS SINCE 2000
· 2003 - Finished 5th in Pool A with 2 wins
· 2007 - Failed to reach Super 8 with 1 win in 3 matches in pool stage
· 2011- Lost semi-final to India in Mohali
· 2015 - Lost quarter-final to Australia in Adelaide
· 2019 - Finished 5th after being level on points (11) with New Zealand.
Among the top-ranked ODI teams, Babar Azam's squad went into the World Cup in India. They won their first two matches of the competition, including a World Cup record 345 chase against Sri Lanka in Hyderabad.
But when India crushed them in Ahmedabad, that's when their downfall began. For the first time in a World Cup, Pakistan dropped four straight games.
But because of their victories against Bangladesh and New Zealand in a rain-affected encounter that the BlackCaps lost despite recording 401 using the DLS technique, Pakistan managed to maintain their chances of reaching the semi-finals till this Saturday.
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