Batting first against Bangladesh in their final round robin match, batting first Pakistan posted 315/9 on the board courtesy a ton from opener Imam ul Haq but Mustafizur Rahman’s fifer restricted their run flow towards the death overs. After posting the total, Pakistan had to achieve a near impossible situation of bowling out Bangladesh for seven runs or less.
They could not do so and it meant that New Zealand made it to the semi-finals of the ongoing World Cup as the fourth team along with Australia, India and England.
Before the match itself, Pakistan were faced with a humongous situation in order to prevail over New Zealand on Net Run Rate. They had to score in excess of 350 and in reality, near 450 to give themselves a fair chance. The equations confronting Pakistan were this. If Bangladesh had won the toss and batted, Pakistan would be eliminated without a ball bowled. Pakistan, though, won the toss and had no hesitation in batting.
Here is a look at the scenario needed by Pakistan to qualify for the semifinals
If Pakistan scored 350, they needed to beat Bangladesh by margin of 311 runs. If Pakistan scored 400, they had to win by a margin of 316 runs and if they had scored 450, they had to win by 321 runs in order to overhaul New Zealand on Net Run Rate. However, thanks to some good bowling from Mustafizur and lack of intent from the Pakistan lower order, Pakistan were eliminated.
Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed had admitted that the loss to Australia was crucial in their World Cup campaign but it was their heavy loss against the West Indies in Trent Bridge on June 31 that proved to be detrimental to their fate.