Pakistan Should Be In The Semifinals Ahead Of New Zealand: Michael Holding

Former West Indies pacer Michael Holding has said Pakistan deserve to be in the semifinal ahead of New Zealand. Pakistan are currently taking on Bangladesh in their final league game. They do have a mathematical chance of progressing ahead but that is very unlikely to happen.

At present, New Zealand are fourth with 11 points at the end of their nine group games. Fifth-place Pakistan can draw level with the Black Caps on points if they beat Bangladesh. However, Sarfaraz Ahmed & Co. need to win by 300-plus runs to advance. No team in the history of ODIs has ever managed to pull off this feat.

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Pakistan could see even those remote hopes end without a ball being bowled if it loses the toss and Bangladesh chooses to bat, eliminating any chance for Pakistan to radically improve its net run-rate. The net run-rate is taken into consideration after teams with same number of points end up with same number of wins.  If Pakistan win against Bangladesh, they will have five victories like New Zealand, who have a far superior net run-rate.

However, Michael Holding feels that head-to-head record should be used as a tie-breaker and not the net run-rate. The legendary pacer believes that since Pakistan beat New Zealand at the league stage, they should progress ahead.

“Pakistan should be in the semi-finals if they beat Bangladesh. NRR should be the last thing to consider. If points & wins are equal then the result between both teams should be deciding factor. Since Pakistan beat New Zealand they should be in semi-finals,” Michael Holding said on air.

Meanwhile, Australia, India and hosts England have already sealed their passage to the last four. New Zealand look set to join them in the semifinals.

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