Scenarios for India to Qualify for Semi Finals after first victory at 2021 T20 World Cup

By Lokmat English Desk | Updated: November 4, 2021 13:02 IST2021-11-04T13:02:06+5:302021-11-04T13:02:06+5:30

Rohit Sharma and Lokesh Rahul helped India reach 210 for two against Afghanistan in the Twenty20 World Cup. India became the first team to score 200 runs in this year's World Cup. Rohit will hit 8 fours and 3 sixes in 47 balls.

After this, Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant also shone with the bat. Rishabh Pant scored 27 off 13 balls (1 four and 3 sixes), while Hardik Pandya scored 35 off 13 balls (4 fours and 2 sixes) to give Team India a total of 210 for 2 after 20 overs.

Mohammad Shami gave the first blow to Afghanistan chasing the target. Mohammad Shahzad (0) was dismissed in the third over. In the next over, Jaspreet Bumrah took the second wicket for Afghanistan. Hazratullah Zazai was dismissed for 13 runs.

In the end, India thrashed Afghanistan by 66 runs thereby registering their first win of the T20 World Cup.

Virat Kohli's men thus remained in contention for the semifinals after picking themselves up from their defeats to Pakistan (by 10 wickets) and New Zealand (by 8 wickets) in Group 2.

India's 66-run win margin helped it to push its net run-rate (NRR) from -1.609 to the positive zone (+0.073). With Pakistan having sealed the top spot already, India will have to fight it out for the second berth with Afghanistan and New Zealand.

The Kiwis, however, remain in the driver's seat despite their lower NRR in comparison to Afghanistan which is also on four points

Williamson and Co. have two matches pending - against Namibia in Sharjah and a potential 'knockout' game against Afghanistan on Sunday in Abu Dhabi.

India's remaining fixtures are slotted against Scotland and Namibia where it must fight for monumental wins to assure the possible best of six points and a healthy NRR.

For India to stand a slim chance, New Zealand must beat Afghanistan but not by a big margin, and in the unlikeliest of scenarios, one of Namibia and Scotland need to pull off an upset against the Kiwis.Even if all these results go India's way, the BlackCaps will be level with India on six points. Thereby it would all come down to the NRR to decide the second semifinalist.In another scenario, if Afghanistan beats New Zealand, all three teams will finish on six points, where the NRR will come into play to decide the second semifinalist.

Tags :ICC T20 World Cup