ICC World Cup 2023 Qualifiers: Why Zimbabwe can't qualify for WC anymore?

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A crushing defeat at the hands of Scotland has jeopardized Zimbabwe's chances of making a progression to the World Cup 2023 in India.

A campaign that started with much promise has been massacred in a span of just two days as Zimbabwe lost the crucial matches against Sri Lanka first, and Scotland on Tuesday.

It has been mostly a decent campaign for them, but the host team made a sorry surrender against the Lankans on Sunday, where they lost the match by 9 wickets. And on Tuesday, it was a disappointing affair against the Scottish side.

Scotland bundled the Zimbabweans out for just 203 runs, as the hosts chased a mere 235 runs. It was a batting collapse yet again for Zimbabwe, who were 4 down for just 37 runs at one stage.

Ryan Burl's fighting 83 and Wessly Madhevere's 40-run knock gave them hope, but Brandon McMullen, Micheal Leask and co. have prevailed at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo to knock the hosts out, while keeping them in the hunt.

Why is Zimbabwe out of the Tournament?

Zimbabwe have finished their super sixes campaign with 6 points after playing their quota of five matches. They have a Net Run Rate of -0.099.

Scotland have six points after four matches, whereas the Netherlands have four points after four matches. These two teams meet against each other in a virtual semifinal on Thursday (July 6).

But why Zimbabwe can't be on the flight to India anymore? Well, it is simple. Scotland and Netherlands will meet each other in their final super sixes match. Scotland (NRR +0.296) and Netherlands (NRR -0.042) have superior NRR than Zimbabwe.

While if the Scots win the match, they will finish with 8 points and automatically have more points than Zimbabwe. On the other hand, a Netherlands win will take them to six points, but due to their already superior NRR, the Dutch will finish at least higher than Zimbabwe.

In that case, the battle will be between Scotland and Netherlands and the team with better NRR will join Sri Lanka for the Final and thus have their ticket for India. In case of match getting abandoned, both teams will get a point each and Scotland will go through as the second team.