Pakistan cricket team ateend a practice session. File

Die-hard Pakistan fans still hope that their team can produce a miracle and enetre World Cup semi-finals, but one toss of a coin is enough to dash their hopes

Pakistan, which is effectively out of contention for a semifinal spot, go into its match against Bangladesh at Lord's on Friday knowing that they need to win by 300-plus runs to advance.

That's never been achieved before in ODI history.

Pakistan could see even those remote hopes end without a ball being bowled if it loses the toss and Bangladesh chooses to bat, eliminating any chance for Pakistan to radically improve its net run-rate.

Former Pakistan test cricketers Ramiz Raja and Shoaib Akhtar were vocal in criticizing the team's performance in the World Cup and held out little hope for Friday's game.

"It's like telling an individual that you have to climb Mount Everest without an oxygen mask. It's that much of a Herculean task," former Pakistan captain and TV commentator Raja said on his YouTube channel, adding "whether they (Pakistan) win or lose it doesn't matter." He called for changes after the tournament, saying: "We have to find batsmen, we have to find allrounders. That's the way you can make your future team." Akhtar was disappointed with the quality of cricket displayed by Pakistan.

"The mess was created by Pakistan themselves," he said, "the way we lost heavily to West Indies in the first match, then rain washed out the game against Sri Lanka which was unfortunate."

Associated Press