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Semi-final qualification scenario
Afghanistan lost by three wickets against Australia, at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. The Afghans performed brilliantly while batting first as Ibrahim Zadran etched his name in the history books, as the opener became the first Afghan batter to score a hundred in the ODI World Cup. The batter played a sensational knock of 129 runs off 143 balls. But an absolutely exceptional inning from Glenn Maxwell cancelled out the batter's effort.
The win against the Afghans cemented their place in the semi-final and became the third team to qualify after India and South Africa. The loss was heartbreaking as Hashmatullah Shahidi's side had a chance to qualify for the knockouts for the first time in history, but Maxwell came in between their qualification. The batter played a knock of 201 runs off 128 deliveries hitting 21 fours and 10 sixes.
Though the Afghans have still a match left against South Africa they have not only won the game but won on a big margin in order to qualify for the semi-final. However, they must hope that both New Zealand and Pakistan lose their upcoming matches.
ODI World Cup qualification scenario
All three teams are in the same positions, winning four and losing four, with just NRR standing out. If just one of the three teams wins their final group game, the winner advances to the semi-finals, while the two losing teams are eliminated. In the case at least two of Afghanistan, New Zealand, or Pakistan win or all three lose, the NRR will determine who advances. With an NRR of +0.398, New Zealand is the best-positioned of the three.
In this case, New Zealand wins by one run over Sri Lanka. Then to go past Kiwis NRR, Pakistan would need to beat England by 130+ runs and Afghanistan by 273+ runs if both the team bat first and score 300 runs. If Afghanistan loses by one run, Pakistan would have to lose by 136 runs and New Zealand would have to lose by 266 runs for them to overtake New Zealand and Pakistan on NRR.