‘Will be shocking if India don’t qualify…’: Shikhar Dhawan’s striking remark as race for World Cup SF berth heats up
With teams almost at the halfway mark, the race for the four semifinal spots in World Cup 2023 has already heated up. 24 matches have been completed since the event kicked off on October 5 in Ahmedabad with the repeat of the 2019 final where England took on New Zealand and barring the 2019 winners and Sri Lanka, who play on Thursdsay at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, all eight other sides have played five games apiece. With the proceedings rolling into the second half of the league stage, veteran India batter Shikhar Dhawan made a striking remark on the race for the semifinal qualification.
Shikhar Dhawan has his say on race for World Cup semifinal spot
India presently stand atop by virtue of being the only unbeaten side in the World Cup so far. They are followed by South Africa and New Zealand respectively, both of whom have incurred only one loss, but separated by net run rate. Australia, the five-time champions, who faced a horror start to the campaign after losing two on the trot bounced back to winning ways by securing three straight victories to stand fourth.
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Pakistan, who suffered three consecutive losses, including a shock defeat to Afghanistan, stand fifth, followed by Hashmatullah Shahidi’s men, while the bottom four comprise of Sri Lanka, England, Bangladesh and Netherlands respectively all of whom have managed only a solitary win so far.
Amid each match having a significant impact on the points table, thus adding new possibilities to the race for the semifinal spots, Dhawan revealed his prediction. He believes India, South Africa and New Zealand are certainties for the next round and admitted that he would be shocked if any of them failed to make it through. The senior India opener, who announced his verdict during Australia’s match against Netherlands on Wednesday in Delhi, further reckoned that the race actually stands for the fourth spot now.
“Every World Cup match is reshaping the points table, with India, SA, and New Zealand securing their spots in the semis. Now, the spotlight is on the race for the 4th spot, demanding keen attention to net run rate. Will be shocking if one of India-NZ-SA doesn’t qualify for SF. What do you guys think? Share your thoughts!” he posted.
India will play their next game on Sunday against England which could almost guarantee them a spot in the semifinal for the second consecutive year.
