Cricket World Cup 2023: Pakistan Pip New Zealand By 21 Runs Via DLS Method To Keep Semi-Final Hopes Alive

Pakistan defeated New Zealand by 21 runs via DLS method in a rain-hit World Cup game to keep their semifinal hopes alive in Bengaluru on Saturday.

Fakhar Zaman hit an extraordinary hundred and the weather gods too smiled on 'unpredictable' Pakistan, who miraculously kept their semifinal hopes alive after walking away with a crucial 21-run win over New Zealand through DLS method in World Cup iun Bengaluru on Saturday. Zaman (126 off 81 balls) and skipper Babar Azam (66 off 63 balls) helped Pakistan to 200 for 1 in 25.3 overs when the skies opened up for the second time to end the proceedings. At that point Pakistan were 21 runs ahead of the DLS calculations in a daunting chase of 402 which was revised to 342 in 41 overs.

New Zealand will feel gutted after making a mammoth 401 for six, riding on Rachin Ravindra's 94-ball 108 and comeback man Kane Williamson's 79-ball 95.

Pakistan now have eight points with a match to go against struggling England, while New Zealand (NRR:+0.855), also on eight points, will face on-their-way-out Sri Lanka in their final league game.

Pakistan (-0.424), however, still remain at the sixth place on the table behind Afghanistan (-0.330) because of the net run rate.

Those calculations apart, those with a sense of history will trace these fateful happenings to Pakistan's campaign in the 1992 World Cup when weather and mathematics helped them first to the semifinals and then eventually to the title.