New Delhi: Temba Bavuma-led South Africa defeated India in their Super 12 match on Sunday. India’s defeat against South Africa has opened up the race for the semi-finals in group 2. After suffering two consecutive defeats against India and Zimbabwe, Pakistan were on the verge of being eliminated from the Super 12 stage itself.
The game between India and South Africa had big implications for the rest of the group, particularly for Pakistan, whose semi-final hopes were hanging by a thread. After Sunday’s results, Pakistan is now closer to being knocked out of ICC’s showpiece event. But it is worth mentioning that Pakistan still have a slim chance of making it through to the semi-finals.
Pakistan have to win all remaining games
South Africa’s win means that not only does Pakistan have to win their remaining matches against South Africa and Bangladesh, but also hope that either India loses to Bangladesh and Zimbabwe or South Africa are beaten by the Netherlands.
Earlier on Sunday, Pakistan were clinical in their own match against the Netherlands at the same venue. Pakistan steamrolled the Netherlands to win by six wickets to keep their semi-final hopes alive.
But India’s defeat against South Africa has infuriated Pakistani fans who were relying on India to win on Sunday. Several fans took to Twitter to suggest that Team India had lost the match on purpose. One fan wrote, “We can never rely on India. Two times we needed them to win: India vs England 2019 and India vs South Africa 2022. Both times they let us down.”
It will be interesting to see if Pakistan still can make the semi-finals despite all the setbacks.
