T20 World Cup: Can India still make it to the semi-final? Here are the possible permutations
Virat Kohli
The Virat Kohli-led Team India managed to keep their hopes of reaching the semi-finals of the Twenty20 World Cup alive after defeating Afghanistan by 66 runs on Wednesday (November 3) at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. Not just win, India needed to win with a better margin to redress their net run rate.
The pre-tournament favourites India were off to a poor start in the Super 12 stage of the ongoing showpiece event as they lost their first two matches against arch-rivals Pakistan and New Zealand by 10 wickets and eight wickets respectively.
Group 2 leaders Pakistan have already booked their semi-final spot and three strong contenders — Afghanistan, New Zealand and India are fighting for a place in the semis.
Can India reach the semi-final? Here are the permutations:
If we talk about India's chances, they will have to win their remaining two matches with big margins as the qualification in Group 2 is most likely will come down to net run rate (NRR).
After winning against Afghanistan, India now have a positive net run rate of 0.073. For Virat and team to qualify, New Zealand need to drop points in one of their remaining two matches, either Afghanistan or Namibia, which is unlikely considering their current form. However, a narrow 16-run win against Scotland states otherwise.
New Zealand's stands at +0.816.
Afghanistan have a net run rate of +1.481.
India's run rate +0.073.
The current scenario states that if India do end up winning the remaining two games and New Zealand beat Namibia but lose to Afghanistan, there could be a three-way tie at 6 points. Then the net run rate will decide which team will go through.
After winning the match against Afghanistan, Virat Kohli in the post-match presentation said, "NRR was on the back of our mind. We spoke in the team meeting that we have to focus on the chance we have [to qualify] and stay positive and hunt that chance down."
New Zealand's fate is in their hands, on the other hand, the Indian team is pinning hope on others' performances as well in order to book a semi-final berth.
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-India vs Scotland on November 5 at 7:30pm (IST)
-India vs Namibia on November 8 at 7:30pm (IST)