5JULY2019 STATE OBSERVER
Pakistan’s dream of securing a spot in the semi-finals came crashing down after England registered a win against New Zealand in the ICC World Cup 2019 match on Wednesday at Chester-le-Street. The Sarfaraz Ahmed-led team was hoping the result would go its way but England’s progression to the semi-final has hampered all their
Pakistan’s dream of securing a spot in the semi-finals came crashing down after England registered a win against New Zealand in the ICC World Cup 2019 match on Wednesday at Chester-le-Street. The Sarfaraz Ahmed-led team was hoping the result would go its way but England’s progression to the semi-final has hampered all their chances.Pakistan has a ridiculously high target to achieve when they clash against Asian-rival Bangladesh in London on Friday. Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed knows that beating Bangladesh in the clash is not going to be a cakewalk and he too believes that his team need a miracle to qualify for the semis.Sarfaraz’s team needs to beat Bangladesh by a margin of at least 311 runs after posting 350 or beat Bangladesh by 316 runs after posing a never before score of 400.Nonetheless, an optimistic Sarfaraz expressed his desire to post 500 against Bangladesh at The Lords clash on Friday.”We will give it our best but we have to be realistic. If we make 500 or 400 runs, we can surely hope that the opposition team can get out on 50. We will try our best. It is not a hidden fact that we have to make 500-550 runs and win by a margin of 316 runs. We have to be realistic but we will try out best,” Sarfaraz had said on the eve of the crunch match, ” he said during a pre-match conference on Thursday.However, no team has ever managed to win by such a huge margin of 300 or more in any One Day International and no score exceeding 400 has been posted in the current edition of the World Cup. Pakistan’s highest score in this edition has been 348 against England.
On the points table, Pakistan are at the 5th position with nine points from 8 matches.
