Indian cricket team’s hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals of the 2021 T20 World Cup hang by a thread as they lost their opening two matches of the Super 12s stage of the tournament. India lost their first match of the T20 World Cup against Pakistan by 10 wickets and lost their next match against New Zealand by 8 wickets.
India currently sits at the fifth spot in Group 2 with zero points and a net run rate of -1.609. Their two competitors for the semi-finals spot, New Zealand and Afghanistan have more points and a much better net run rate than them. New Zealand has two points from two matches and a net run rate of +0.765 while Afghanistan has four points from three matches with a net run rate of +3.097.
While India’s hopes of qualifying for the next round are minimal, they do still have an outside chance to make it to the semi-finals. India will need other results to go in their favor as their dreams of semi-finals are no longer in their own hands.
Here are the two scenarios which can see India make it to the semi-finals:
Scenario 1
First and foremost, India will need to win their remaining matches against Namibia, Scotland, and Afghanistan. The three victories will put India on six points. Then they will require a number of results to go their way.
India will require Pakistan to win their remaining games against Namibia and Scotland and finish with 10 points on the board. Then they need New Zealand to beat Afghanistan and lose to Namibia and Scotland to finish with 4 points. Afghanistan will need to lose both their matches against New Zealand and India to finish on 4 points and Namibia and Scotland will need to beat New Zealand and lose their other matches to finish with 4 and 2 points respectively.
Scenario 2
In the second scenario, India will again need to win their remaining three matches convincingly to finish on 6 points, and also Pakistan will need to win their remaining two matches to finish on 10 points.
Afghanistan will need to beat New Zealand and lose to India in their last two matches to finish on 6 points. New Zealand will have to beat Namibia and Scotland while losing to Afghanistan to finish on 6 points as well. Namibia and Scotland will need to lose their remaining matches to finish on 2 and 0 points respectively.
The points table will then be decided on net run rate. India will need to win all their matches by huge margins to overcome Afghanistan’s massive net run rate.
Points table if scenario 2 happens:
Source: Pro Pakistani