Pakistan cricket will take a long time to recover from the shock of their 2024 T20 World Cup campaign that was over almost as soon as it started.
A devastating Super Over defeat to co-hosts USA and a six-run loss to India put them firmly on the backfoot in a tournament format that afforded almost no room for mistakes. They were now at the mercy of other results going their way in order to progress to the Super Eight stage.
But once the USA v Ireland match in Florida on Friday was washed out, 2022 finalists Pakistan were eliminated from the tournament.
This is one of the lowest points in Pakistan cricket in modern times, especially because the T20 format is where Pakistan have diverted all their attention and resources to.
Some may argue the Pakistan Cricket Board should have seen this coming, especially after multiple structural changes in Pakistan's system, including team leadership, board management, captains and domestic structure. But still, it will be a tough pill to swallow for fans.
Now, the focus of Pakistan shifts to the 2026 T20 World Cup, which will be held in India and Sri Lanka.
Have Pakistan qualified for 2026 T20 World Cup?
Well, not yet. The eight teams who qualify for this year's Super Eight stage automatically qualify for the 2026 T20 World Cup. That means Australia, South Africa, India, West Indies, Afghanistan and USA have already booked their spots. Two more teams that make it to the next stage will qualify for the 2026 competition.
According to the rules, the Super Eight teams and the hosts qualify automatically to the next tournament. That means Sri Lanka will also definitely feature in the 2026 edition by virtue of being co-hosts. So in all, nine spots are booked as of now.
A total of 12 teams gain automatic entry into the 2026 tournament – the Super Eight teams, co-hosts and top ranked teams outside of the first two sets. As things stand, the remaining top three ranked teams after the final on June 29 will qualify for the 2026 edition.
Pakistan look safe in that regard as they are currently ranked seventh in the ICC rankings. New Zealand, who also did not qualify for the Super Eight, are placed one spot above them. So these teams should grab two of three automatic spots for the next tournament.
The only hypothetical danger to Pakistan's automatic qualification chances is if England somehow don't qualify for the Super Eight stage, Bangladesh don't qualify either but improve their rankings and Pakistan's ranking sinks further in case they lose to Ireland in their final group game on Sunday.
In that scenario – which is highly unlikely – England, New Zealand and Bangladesh will qualify automatically to the 2026 T20 World Cup and Pakistan will have to play qualifiers. However, the chances of that happening appear very slim as victory over Ireland on Sunday should secure entry into the next World Cup for the South Asian side.
Also, if England qualify for the Super Eight stage, Pakistan's path to the 2026 World Cup will be straightforward.
Sleep Well Beast
The National
4AD
The Rub of Time: Bellow, Nabokov, Hitchens, Travolta, Trump and Other Pieces 1986-2016
Martin Amis,
Jonathan Cape
'The Batman'
Stars:Robert Pattinson
Director:Matt Reeves
Rating: 5/5
The End of Loneliness
Benedict Wells
Translated from the German by Charlotte Collins
Sceptre
How Tesla’s price correction has hit fund managers
Investing in disruptive technology can be a bumpy ride, as investors in Tesla were reminded on Friday, when its stock dropped 7.5 per cent in early trading to $575.
It recovered slightly but still ended the week 15 per cent lower and is down a third from its all-time high of $883 on January 26. The electric car maker’s market cap fell from $834 billion to about $567bn in that time, a drop of an astonishing $267bn, and a blow for those who bought Tesla stock late.
The collapse also hit fund managers that have gone big on Tesla, notably the UK-based Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF.
Tesla is the top holding in both funds, making up a hefty 10 per cent of total assets under management. Both funds have fallen by a quarter in the past month.
Matt Weller, global head of market research at GAIN Capital, recently warned that Tesla founder Elon Musk had “flown a bit too close to the sun”, after getting carried away by investing $1.5bn of the company’s money in Bitcoin.
He also predicted Tesla’s sales could struggle as traditional auto manufacturers ramp up electric car production, destroying its first mover advantage.
AJ Bell’s Russ Mould warns that many investors buy tech stocks when earnings forecasts are rising, almost regardless of valuation. “When it works, it really works. But when it goes wrong, elevated valuations leave little or no downside protection.”
A Tesla correction was probably baked in after last year’s astonishing share price surge, and many investors will see this as an opportunity to load up at a reduced price.
Dramatic swings are to be expected when investing in disruptive technology, as Ms Wood at ARK makes clear.
Every week, she sends subscribers a commentary listing “stocks in our strategies that have appreciated or dropped more than 15 per cent in a day” during the week.
Her latest commentary, issued on Friday, showed seven stocks displaying extreme volatility, led by ExOne, a leader in binder jetting 3D printing technology. It jumped 24 per cent, boosted by news that fellow 3D printing specialist Stratasys had beaten fourth-quarter revenues and earnings expectations, seen as good news for the sector.
By contrast, computational drug and material discovery company Schrödinger fell 27 per cent after quarterly and full-year results showed its core software sales and drug development pipeline slowing.
Despite that setback, Ms Wood remains positive, arguing that its “medicinal chemistry platform offers a powerful and unique view into chemical space”.
In her weekly video view, she remains bullish, stating that: “We are on the right side of change, and disruptive innovation is going to deliver exponential growth trajectories for many of our companies, in fact, most of them.”
Ms Wood remains committed to Tesla as she expects global electric car sales to compound at an average annual rate of 82 per cent for the next five years.
She said these are so “enormous that some people find them unbelievable”, and argues that this scepticism, especially among institutional investors, “festers” and creates a great opportunity for ARK.
Only you can decide whether you are a believer or a festering sceptic. If it’s the former, then buckle up.
What drives subscription retailing?
Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.
The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.
The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.
The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.
UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.
That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.
Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.
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MATCH INFO
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Shubh Mangal Saavdhan
Directed by: RS Prasanna
Starring: Ayushmann Khurrana, Bhumi Pednekar
More coverage from the Future Forum
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