ICC World Cup 2023 Qualification Scenarios: Here’s how Afghanistan can still qualify for semi-final

Afghanistan team has had an awful start to the tournament, having played four games so far, they have one win to their name which came as a surprise against England. With only a win out of four games and a negative net-run-rate of 1.250, they are placed ninth in the points table.

Their first game was horrible as they got bundled out for 156 runs against Bangladesh and eventually lost the game by 6 wickets while in their second game against India, they did score 272 but were outclassed by the tournament favourites India as Rohit’s blistering century put them on the back-foot with almost 15 overs to spare.

Things got better in the third game as the Afghan spinners rattled the English batters after their batters put up a strong display with a score of 284, Rahmanullah Gurbaz being the chief architect in the setting, with a score of 80 and Ikram Alikhil contributed with a fifty while the spin duo of Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman claimed three wickets each to spring a surprise against England with a 69-run victory.

In the fourth game against New Zealand, they collapsed the Kiwi’s batting unit with 3 wickets for one run, but Phillips and Latham held their nerves with a 144-run stand to dent the hopes of Afghanistan as they lost by a huge margin of 149 runs. Their fielding and batting were not up to the mark in the last game as they dropped seven catches before batters failed to score runs, eventually losing the game by a massive margin.

How can Afghanistan still qualify for the Semi-Finals?

With one win out of four games in the ongoing ODI World Cup 2023, they are placed at the second-last of the table having two points and poor NRR, they now need to win all five matches with a good margin and should hope for other results go their way.  If they win all five matches, they will go to 12 points and the possibility of getting qualified will be more.

Afghanistan can still qualify without losing one match, since it is a big tournament, there is a high possibility of a few teams getting qualified with just 10 points provided Afghans win the matches in bigger margins and should hope for other results to go their way.

They most likely stand eliminated if they lose more than one game. Afghanistan’s upcoming fixtures are against Pakistan in Chennai, Sri Lanka in Pune, Netherlands in Lucknow, Australia in Mumbai and South Africa in Ahmedabad. They would look to bounce back the winning ways so as to go deep in the tournament.