Pakistan skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed accepts difficult task of qualifying for the semis ahead of match against Bangladesh

After England beat New Zealand on July 3rd, Pakistan’s chances of making into the semi finals looks slimmer than ever. Pakistan was hoping that New Zealand would eliminate England from the ongoing world Cup 2019. But, instead England displayed a brilliant performance with the bat with jonny Bairstow’s scintillating 106 of 99 balls.

Under the circumstances, for Pakistan cricket team to qualify for the semi finals, they need to bat first against Bangladesh and win by a huge margin. If the Pakistan team bats first against Bangladesh they will have to beat Bangladesh by 311 runs after scorig 350. if the Pakistan team posts 400 they need to bundle out bangladesh for 84 and if they score 450, they wil have to win by 321 runs. If Pakistan bowls first they will be eliminated even before the first ball in bowled.

"Obviously, we are here to win all the matches. We will do our best to win the last game as well. We will do our best but we need to be realistic. If you score 600, 500 or 400 scores on a pitch then you think you can get the other team out for 50? It will be tough but we will still give it a try. The target is in front of us, there are no secrets that [we have] to score 500, 550 and then win by a 316-run margin. But if you look at the tournament then, realistically it is a 280-300 tournament," said Sarfaraz at a pre-match press conference.

Pakistan started their World Cup 2019 campaign against the Windies, where they lost by seven wickets, but came back strong in their next game against the host England and defeated them by 14 runs. Pakistan have so far won 4 out of their 8 games with one game being abandoned due to rain.

"The turning point was the loss against Australia. We were in a better position to win that game but lost the way in the middle overs. And if you look at the pitches, they were not for free and open cricket, all the matches they were tough for batting, spin was there and the ball was not coming on the bat," said Sarfaraz.

In the match against Australia, The Australian team put up 307 in 49 overs, on the contrary, Pakistan chased at 136 for 2, they continued their chase to 264/7. but eventually were all out for 266 in 45.4 overs.