World Cup History: Five rain-affected matches that changed the course of the tournaments

#4 Pakistan vs Zimbabwe - 2003, Bulawayo, Group stage

A victory for Pakistan would have spiced up the fight for the 3rd place in the 2003 World Cup

Pakistan - 73/3 (14.0/38), Zimbabwe - 0/0 (0.0)

Match drawn

Although this match ostensibly appears to be a pretty straight forward case of the match getting abandoned due to rain and teams sharing two points each (4 points for a win), the rain interruption had a very significant role than it met the eye.

As cricket fans, we all are quick as a calculator when it comes to cricket-related calculations. Digging deep into the points table and playing around with the numbers a little bit, the possible calculation if Pakistan would have gone onto win this encounter comprehensively would have taken Pakistan, England and Zimbabwe to 12 points each thus spicing up the fight for the third position. With a better NRR either Pakistan or England would have made it to the super sixes.