The ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 sorely needed a nail-biting thriller, and it got one on Friday night. After 25 games that bore considerable victory margins, the showpiece 50-over tournament finally produced a bonafide close encounter. In the end, lower-order batter Keshav Maharaj held his nerve to see South Africa through to a one-wicket win against Pakistan at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. (Highlights | Scorecard | Full Coverage)
Though cricket lovers across the world were treated to a fantastic game of cricket, the agonizingly narrow defeat leaves Pakistan on the brink of group-stage elimination, as the Men In Green now have four losses and can only attain a maximum of 10 points, which are likely to prove insufficient for a semi-final berth. Pakistan's upcoming fixtures are against Bangaldesh, New Zealand and England, and they need to win all three to have any outside chance of sneaking through.
In the current round-robin format of the ODI World Cup, each team plays nine games, and winning six games more or less assures a side of a spot in the top four. Pakistan can only win a maximum of five games now, which means they are highly likely to face an early exit. However, they still have a mathematical chance of qualifying in case only three teams end up with six or more wins, and there is a fight for the fourth spot. But for that, the Babar Azam-led side must win every remaining game.
Pakistan find themselves in a situation somewhat similar to that of defending champions England, who have also lost four games in the tournament. Pakistan, though, have one lesser game to play, which means one lesser gane to win. The two teams will face each other for their last group-stage game in Kolkata, and if both of them somehow manage to win all their games before that, it could become a virtual quarter-final.
Earlier, on Friday, Pakistan's bowlers - led by pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi - turned things around dramatically to cheaply account for Proteas' lower-middle order and leave them eight wickets down with 21 still to get. But No. 11 Tabraiz Shamsi hung on with Maharaj to snuff out Pakistan's hopes.
In the first innings, half-centuries from captain Babar Azam and southpaw Saud Shakeel and a handy 36-ball 43 from Shadab Khan, who was later replaced by Usama Mir as the ODI World Cup's first concussion substitute, propelled the Men In Green to a challenging total of 270. However, they were bowled out with 20 balls still to go, and were left wondering what could have been, had they played their full quota of 50 overs.
