Who stands where in race to World Cup semifinals
The ICC World Cup 2023 is nearing the halfway point of the group-stage. 21 matches into the biggest quadrennial extravaganza in cricket, a couple of teams seemingly already have one foot in the semifinals, three others are in a fight for the other two spots in the knockout phase while the remaining five teams' hopes of a semifinal qualification are hanging by a thread.
The Daily Star takes a look at how the 10 teams in the World Cup have fared so far in the competition and where they stand in the race to the semifinals.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. The front-runners: India, New Zealand
Hosts India maintained their undefeated run in the ongoing World Cup by ending New Zealand's unbeaten streak with a four-wicket win in Dharamshala on Sunday.
With the win, India have five wins in five matches and have all but sealed qualification for the knockout phase.
New Zealand, on the other hand, lost their top spot in the points-table with the defeat to India. But they are sitting comfortably in second position with four wins in five games.
The Kiwis, however, have a trio of tough matches lined up next against the likes of Australia, South Africa and Pakistan and the results in those games will determine whether they will sail into the semis or sink below the top four.
Middle of the pack: South Africa, Australia, Pakistan
After a shock defeat to the Netherlands, South Africa put their World Cup campaign back on track with a 229-run win over England on Saturday.
Now, the Proteas have three wins in four games and are occupying the third spot in the points-table.
South Africa also have a net run-rate of 2.212, the best among all teams in the competition thus far, putting them in an advantageous place in case of a tie of points in the top four.
The fourth and fifth spots belong to Australia and Pakistan respectively, who have won two and lost two so far.
Although they are tied in terms of points, Australia and Pakistan are at the opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to momentum.
Australia, after losing to India and South Africa in their opening two games, have bounced back with wins over Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Pakistan's journey in the World Cup so far has been the complete opposite, firstly winning against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before losing to arch-rivals India and Australia.
If South Africa don't lose their way in the tournament, the battle for the fourth spot in the semifinals is likely to be between Australia and Pakistan.
Hanging on by a thread: Bangladesh, Netherlands, Sri Lanka, England, Afghanistan
The bottom five teams in the points-table have the same number of points -2- after the same number of matches -4- in the World Cup.
The only thing that currently separates them is net run-rate, according to which Bangladesh are ruling the bottom half of the table followed by the Netherlands, Sri Lanka, England, and Afghanistan.
The only surprise inclusion in the bottom five names are defending champions England.
England, who came into the tournament as one of the favourites, have so far had a horrendous time in India.
The Jos Buttler-led team started the tournament with a nine-wicket defeat against New Zealand. They bounced back with a commanding win over Bangladesh before suffering an upset defeat to Afghanistan.
Their worst defeat came against South Africa in Mumbai, where they first conceded 399 runs and then got bundled out for a mere 170.
England now need to win all five of their remaining games in the tournament to book a spot in the semifinal.
If they lose even one game, it would become highly unlikely for the defending champions to make it to the knockout phase owing to their terrible net run-rate of -1.248.
The equation for the remaining four teams in the bottom half is almost the same as England. However, those teams don't have the same pedigree as the English team, meaning although they are mathematically still alive in the race for the semifinals, realistically, they are already out of the running.
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