Can Pakistan enter World Cup semis? Here are the chances

Pakistan began their 2019 World Cup Cricket campaign as not a hot favourite and their losses to West Indies, Australia and India made it look like they were on a sticky wicket.

However, the team has made a stunning comeback in the tournament with the wins over South Africa and New Zealand.

Pakistan registered a convincing 49-run win over South Africa on Sunday, and they produced another clinical performance to beat the Black Caps --who were till then unbeaten in the tournament - by six wickets at Edgbaston on Wednesday.

Before that they had beaten England and their game against Sri Lanka was washed out.

Interestingly, Pakistan's performance in the ongoing tournament has been very similar to that of the 1992 edition of the World Cup which they won under the leadership of Imran Khan.

With 7 points from 7 matches after the six-wicket win over New Zealand, Pakistan are now at number 6 on the pointstable. This means they still have a chance to enter the semifinals. Let's have a look at Pakistan's possibilities.

Pakistan now face Bangladesh and Afghanistan. If they win both the remaining matches, they will end up with 11 points. If England does not win more than one match and Bangladesh and Sri Lanka lose at least one, Pakistan can go through.

While Australia have already sealed their semi berth with 12 points from seven games, India and New Zealand seem to have high chances of entering the top-four now. While New Zealand (11 points from 7 matches) need just one more win to go through, India have to win (9 from 5) at least two of the remaining four matches.

England's successive losses to Sri Lanka and Australia have kept alive the hopes of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. West Indies too have an outside chance of making the last-four.

Bangladesh

With seven points from seven matches, Bangladesh will now take on India and Pakistan. Two wins in as many matches will take them to 11 points and they can still qualify if Sri Lanka lose at least one of their remaining matches and England win not more than one.

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka have 6 points from 6 matches and their remaining matches are against South Africa, West Indies and India. They can finish with 12 points if they win all the remaining matches. Anything less than six points will mean Lanka will have to depend on the other results to go their way, particularly with the negative net run-rate (-1.11).

West Indies

The Caribbeans have now just 3 points from 6 matches and they have to face India, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan in the remaining matches. For the Holder-led side to go through, England would have to lose both their remaining matches and, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka shouldn't win more than one each and Pakistan should lose at least one.

It also needs to be considered that, compared to Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, Windies have a higher net runrate (+).190) which may turn crucial.