World Cup 2023: How rain can play party-pooper for New Zealand and help Pakistan in semi-final qualification

The race to the semi-finals of the ongoing World Cup has further narrowed down over the past one week. World Cup 2023: News | Schedule | Results | Points table Five-time champions Australia confirmed their place in the knockouts alongside hosts India and South Africa after a dramatic victory over Afghanistan. Sri Lanka and Netherlands, meanwhile, joined defending England and Bangladesh as the teams eliminated from contention after their defeats this week, and these teams will have a new task at hand — that of finishing in the top eight in order to qualify for the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy.

That leaves us with three teams fighting for the fourth semi-final spot, with New Zealand, Pakistan and Afghanistan the teams in fray after having won four and lost as many in eight outings. Given Afghanistan’s relatively poor Net Run Rate (-0.338) as well as the fact that they’re up against South Africa in their final league game this week, it would be safe to assume it’s a direct shoot out between the Black Caps and the Men in Green for the final semi-final spot. New Zealand are up against Sri Lanka on Thursday at Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium, the same venue where they ended up on the losing side despite posting 401/6 on the board, suffering their fourth defeat in a row. LIVE: New Zealand vs Sri Lanka, ICC World Cup match in Bengaluru The Kiwis had at one point appeared a certainty for a top-four finish after winning each of their first four games before running into Rohit Sharma and Co in Dharamsala from where their slide would begin. New Zealand, however, have still maintained a healthy NRR (+0.398) compared to Pakistan’s (+0.036) thanks to the lopsided nature of their victories. And despite losing four in a row, New Zealand start favourites against Sri Lanka on Thursday at the Chinnaswamy, with the latter having won just two and lost six, including against Bangladesh on Monday. There is however, a one little factor that could spoil the day for Kane Williamson and company — that of a rain threat in Bengaluru on match day. How rain can play party pooper for New Zealand It won’t be the first time rain makes an appearance in a game involving New Zealand at Bengaluru this World Cup. In the game against Pakistan, Fakhar Zaman struck a blistering century (126 not out) and stitched an unbroken 194-run partnership for the second wicket with Babar Azam (66 not out) that helped the 1992 world champions stay ahead of the par score, and eventually be declared winners by 21 runs via the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method. New Zealand will be hoping rain stays away until they’ve batted past the 20-over mark in their run chase against Sri Lanka, and stay well ahead of the par score until then for them to get their much-coveted ‘W’. Read | What Bengaluru's weather will be like during NZ-SL match Should the rain gods make an appearance earlier though, and force a washout along with a split of points, New Zealand will finish the league stage on nine points. They will then have to pin their hopes on and English victory in their final league game against Pakistan on Saturday, and pray Afghanistan doesn’t end up beating South Africa by a massive margin, however unlikely the prospect of that happening is. England managed to regain some of their lost confidence with a 160-run hammering of Netherlands on Wednesday, and will certainly back themselves to end what has otherwise been a dismal title defence on a high.