ICC World Cup 2023 Qualification Scenarios: Here’s how England's can still qualify for semi-final after shocking defeat against Sri Lanka

The defending champions, England (ENG) are having a horrible campaign in the ODI World Cup 2023 so far. In fact, after their heartbreaking defeat against Sri Lanka (SL) on October 26 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, they have now found themselves in a near-impossible position to qualify for the semi-finals.

To be precise, England will have to win all their remaining four fixtures in order to up themselves on the points table. However, this alone won't work, as they need the stars to align in their favour to secure a spot in the top four.

Speaking of their latest fixture, they will play next at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Sunday, October 29, against the table toppers India. If they lose to the Men in Blue, it will surely knock them out of the tournament; however, if they manage a win, they will have to put up impressive performances against Australia, the Netherlands, and Pakistan, respectively. 

These four wins will ensure that the Jos Buttler-led side ends with ten points in the league stage. However, they will also hope that Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Australia lose the majority of their remaining fixtures. Currently, the scenarios are quite open for all the teams, but teams who displayed a better game of cricket in the first half of the tournament fancy a slight advantage over others.

Coming back to England, they currently have just one victory out of the five games they've played and will be desperate to make a return to winning ways, although the kind of form that they are in raises a lot of questions over the possibility of them qualifying for the next stage. Given the kind of situation they are in, they might look to experiment and hope for their shots to hit the target on all occasions.

Check: ODI World Cup 2023 Points Table