- Sunday, June 30, 2024
All four teams in the Super Eight Group 1 are in race for the semi-final berths after Afghanistan defeated Australia by 21 runs in Kingstown on June 22.
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIA have found themselves at a vantage position after winning both their games in the Super Eight of the ongoing T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the US so far but they are yet to qualify for the semi-finals technically.
Rohit Sharma’s men have comprehensively beaten Afghanistan and Bangladesh in their Super Eight group to sit at the top of the table four points from two games and an impressive net run rate (NRR) of +2.425.
They will face Australia in their final match of the Super Eight group at Daren Sammy Cricket Ground at Gros Islet on Monday (24). A win over there or a tie or a rained-out game would see the Indians going through to the semi-finals.
Read: Ruthless India defeat Bangladesh to get close to semi-finals
However, India could still crash out of the tournament despite being at such a position, a fact which has now been made one of the possibilities by Afghanistan’s 21-run win over Australia at Arnos Vale Stadium in Kingston on Saturday (22). Had Australia won the match, India and Australia would have marched to the semi-finals with their game on Monday becoming one of academic interest.
The other remaining match between Afghanistan and Bangladesh would then become key in deciding who go to the semi-finals from the group other than India.
Read: T20 World Cup: Afghanistan stun Australia to make semi-final race exciting
But if India lose against Australia by a big margin, adversely affecting their NRR, and Afghanistan also do the same against Bangladesh, then Rohit’s men could find themselves missing the bus as NRR of India, Australia and Afghanistan would decide the top two teams that make the semifinals.
Australia’s NRR at the moment is +0.223 while Afghanistan’s is -0.650. Both are behind India and would have to accomplish really major victories to see them through at India’s expense.
Bangladesh also aren’t out yet provided India beat Australia and they beat Afghanistan by a good margin to improve their NRR. The Tigers’ NRR at the moment is -2.489 and they haven’t won any game yet out of two.
If Australia beat India by 42 runs and Afghanistan can crush Bangladesh by 83 runs, India could go out of the tournament.
Australia would have to beat India to remain in the contention and hope that Bangladesh beat Afghanistan or Afghanistan don’t win comprehensively to eclipse their NRR. However, a narrow victory against India would still keep Australia in the race for the last four.
Even if the game against India is washed out, Australia would stay in the race, provided Bangladesh beat Afghanistan in the final game of the group.
If India beat Australia and Bangladesh beat Afghanistan, then three teams would be tied on two points and it would come down to the NRR to decide the second place-holder in the group.
Bangladesh must beat Afghanistan by 31 runs to get their NRR ahead of the latter and also hope that Australia lose to India by at least 55 runs. If the Afghanistan-Bangladesh game gets washed out and Australia win against India, they go through. But if they lose, Afghanistan will go through.
It’s really complicated.
