Team India have suffered their second successive defeat in the T20 World Cup and they are now on the verge of being eliminated from the quadrennial tournament. The blues were off to a horrible start when about a week ago, they lost their opening match of the T20 World Cup 2021 against arch-rivals Pakistan. That was a massive blow to their self-confidence and that was probably why they lost against New Zealand today as well. The boys were under tremendous pressure and they just couldn’t deal with it. However, hope is not lost yet.
There is tremendous hype on the internet and even some amount of fake news. There are many fans who think that all hopes of Team India are now lost and they can, in no way, make it to the knockouts. That however, is not totally correct. Although the chances of team India playing in the semifinals is weak, it is still a possibility. And in this article, we will be discussing exactly that.
As of now, the table of Group 2 of the T20 World Cup looks somewhat like this:
Pakistan, having 6 points from 3 matches, have already qualified for the knockouts and there is just one spot left. India, New Zealand and Afghanistan are fighting for that 1 remaining spot.
Afghanistan have the highest run-rate and that is exactly what might trouble team India because if they beat New Zealand then the damage is done. In that case, even if India defeats Afghanistan, the Afghans will go on to play in the semis as their net run rate is very high.
So what India now need is for New Zealand to win against Afghanistan and then go on to lose against either one of the two other teams, i.e, Namibia and Scotland. In that case, even if India and New Zealand end up in a tie, India can fight to get a higher net run rate in their next match.
However, all these calculations are made keeping in mind that India MUST win their remaining 3 games.
India can still qualify for the Semi-finals !
