New Zealand and Sri Lanka face each other in the 41st match of the ICC World Cup 2023 at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, India, on November 9 which will be their last match of the robin-round stage of the tournament.
As both sides would be willing to give their all in Bengaluru on November 9, rain could play spoilsport and end the Black Caps’ chances of playing the mega event’s semi-final.
According to weather.com, there is a 60% chance of rain during the day and night in Bengaluru on Thursday with temperature to be between 19°c to 27°c.
Thunderstorms are expected to build during the afternoon which can come in with full force during the first innings break and can possibly ruin the match.
It is worth mentioning that despite a flying start in the tournament with four wins in a row, New Zealand fell badly and went on to lose four successive matches.
However, despite four defeats, they can still reach the World Cup semi-final of the tournament by beating Sri Lanka by a decent margin.
However, they are dependent on Afghanistan because Hashmatullah Shahidi’s men have eight points from seven matches and have two more matches to play — Australia and South Africa. If the Afghans win their remaining matches they will secure their place in the knockout stage but even if they lose one of them, they are going to be dependent on their net run rate (NRR) which, right now, is not that great.
On the other hand, Pakistan, who are in the fifth position on the points table, need to beat England on November 11 in Kolkata and also pray that Sri Lanka beat the Black Caps in Bengaluru on November 9. The Men in Green also need Afghanistan to lose one of their remaining two matches or both (preferably) because the Afghans have same points (8) as Babar Azam's men despite playing one less match.