Pakistan is on the verge of exiting the Cricket World Cup after New Zealand’s exit

Pakistan is on the verge of elimination from the World Cup after its match against New Zealand was canceled due to rain.

The bottom side of the tournament were without a win in five matches, and were eliminated from the tournament for the second time in a row in Colombo.

In contrast to the postponed first match, where they were well placed to beat England, Pakistan struggled in this match, finding themselves at 92-5 at the 25-run mark, after which the covers were back for good.

The R Premadasa Stadium hosts all of Pakistan’s matches and most of Sri Lanka’s matches, but Colombo was hit by rain, and this was the fourth of nine matches played there without a result.

This abandonment means that India’s victory over England on Sunday will ensure that Pakistan cannot qualify for the knockout stages despite having two group stage matches left to play.

Even if England prevail, Pakistan will still need to beat both South Africa and Sri Lanka and hope a significant number of matches go their way.

Meanwhile, New Zealand are level with India, who are fourth in the knockout stage, on four points but have played one match more, with the two teams scheduled to meet on Thursday.

Sophie Devine decided her team would bowl after winning the toss, and New Zealand removed openers Umaima Sohail and Muniba Ali in the space of four balls to leave Pakistan 30-2 up in the seventh over.

Sidra Amin then cut straight to Eden Carson off Lea Tahoe, and the players walked out into the rain immediately after.

Natalia Parvez resumed after 90 minutes with the score at 52-3, out to Devine off Carson’s bowling, while Millie Kerr bowled Fatima Sana.

Aliya Riaz, the team’s top scorer with 28 goals, started the rebuild with Sidra Nawaz, but the officials had to cover the ball again, and after nearly three hours of waiting for the rain to subside, the match was called off.