england: Pride on the line when 2019 champion England and Pakistan meet at the Cricket World Cup

Defending champions England and Pakistan started out as unlikely contenders to reach the semi-finals of the Cricket World Cup, but the teams meet on Saturday to play for pride above all else.

England will be hoping to add to an unforgettable title defense with three wins from nine matches after starting with a nine-wicket loss to New Zealand in a replay of the 2019 final. England’s run in India included a streak of five losses in a row.

And Pakistan need an almost impossible 287-run victory over England in Kolkata to replace New Zealand in the No. 1 semi-final. 4 at the current net rate.

Pakistan, who have played in only one World Cup semi-final – in 2011 – since losing the final to Australia in 1999, were in the same position in the 2019 World Cup. Bangladesh had to hit more than 300 runs in the final series match to knock the Black Caps out of the semi-finals, but could not get the result.

England are aiming for back-to-back wins after 160 runs against Netherlands in the last place at Pune. “Not playing for what we wanted to be playing for, but a really important game for us in the grand scheme of things,” England captain Jos Buttler said. and was in charge until after England beat the Netherlands by 160 runs at Pune. “It’s great to be heading there with something on the line.” Buttler’s side were lurching into last place with a solitary defeat against Bangladesh before Ben Stokes produced a fighting debut against Holland and kept England’s hopes of qualification for the 2025 Champions Trophy alive.

Buttler endured a great tournament, scoring just 111 runs in eight matches. He scored 43 against New Zealand more than a month ago at Ahmedabad but has not scored more than 20 in any of his last seven overs.

Dawid Malan is the only Englishman in the top 10 run-scorers at the World Cup, but his 373 runs in eight matches is 192 runs behind New Zealand’s surprise star of the tournament, Rachin Ravindra, who the batting chart with 565 runs.

The rest of the batsmen – Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Harry Brook – struggled and that didn’t help the cause in an upset loss to Afghanistan and an eight-wicket win for Sri Lanka.

The embattled batting lineup saved the worst for South Africa when chasing 400 at Wankhede Mumbai Stadium, capitulating for just 170 in a heavy 229-run loss.

England’s bowlers have no impact against quality batting opposition like South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.

Eoin Morgan, who guided England to that landmark title in 2019 after the final was awarded on a boundary count, was a vocal critic of the team’s performance and Buttler’s captaincy in India.

England must finish in the top eight to qualify for the 2025 Champions Cup.

“It would be easy for us to give up,” said Buttler. “Credit to everyone for still putting in the effort and showing how much it means to play for England and the pride in our performance.

Obviously, the Champions Cup is something we’re very focused on and we’re determined to make sure we’re there.”

For Pakistan, two heartbreaking results at Chennai’s Chidambaram Stadium have made it almost impossible to surpass New Zealand’s healthy net run rate of 0.743.

First Afghanistan to put up a slick all-round performance, both with the ball and bat, to better Pakistan with eight wickets. Then South Africa won by one wicket.

But the return of fit Fakhar Zaman sparked a spark in Pakistan’s lineup as the left-hander scored 81 against Bangladesh in a seven-wicket win. Zaman then hit 126 off 81 balls to seal Pakistan’s 21-run win over New Zealand on DLS Mode in a rain-shortened match.

Like England, Pakistan’s bowling is below par. The shoulder injury to Naseem Shah just before the World Cup affected Pakistan’s pace combination, with Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf leaking a lot of runs against Sri Lanka, Australia and New Zealand. The spinners – Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz and Usama Mir – were not effective enough to put pressure on Pakistan’s batting.

Skipper Babar Azam has struggled to score big in the tournament and three of his four half-centuries have been in trouble – against India, Afghanistan and South Africa. It will be something that is ranked in the world No. 2 wants to settle before leaving India.