Under the leadership of Rohit Sharma, Team India secured a commanding win over Bangladesh in the T20 World Cup 2024 Super 8 match on Saturday (June 22) at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, Antigua. With two consecutive wins in the Super 8 stage, India is on the brink of qualifying for the T20 World Cup semifinals. A victory against Australia in their upcoming Super 8 match on Monday (June 24) will ensure India's place in the semifinals.
How India can qualify for T20 World Cup 2024 semifinal
India's dominance in the T20 World Cup 2024 continues as they maintain an unbeaten record from the group stage into the Super 8s. Starting with a big win over Afghanistan in their first Super 8 match, India extended their winning streak by defeating Bangladesh convincingly.
With two wins out of two matches in T20 World Cup Super 8 stage, India leads Group 1 with 4 points and a massive net run rate (NRR).
Earlier, Australia held the top spot, but a recent loss to Afghanistan has relegated them to second place. Australia have won one out of two matches in the Super 8s and now face a critical "must-win" encounter against India on Monday (June 24).
If Australia had defeated Afghanistan, both Australia and India would have secured spots in the semifinals from Group 1 and the upcoming IND vs AUS Super 8 match on Monday (June 24) would have been a dead rubber. However, Afghanistan's victory over Australia has altered the scenario.
A win over Australia on Monday will gurantee India a semifinal berth. India currently holds a strong net run rate of +2.425 with 4 points, whereas Australia's net run rate stands at +0.223 with 2 points.
But what if Australia defeats India? If Australia defeats India on Monday, both teams will finish the Super 8 stage with 4 points each, making the net run rate decisive in determining the semifinalist. A win over Australia will secure India's place in the semifinal. However, if India loses, they must ensure it's not by a big margin as a small margin defeat will help the 'Men in Blue' maintain their advantageous net run rate.
For Australia to qualify for semifinals, not only they need to beat India to get those two crucial points but they also will require Bangladesh to defeat Afghanistan on Monday. Australia's net run rate is pretty low and if Afghanistan wins against Bangladesh, things won't be in Australia's favor at all. Australia will have a good chance of qualifying if they beat India and even if Afghanistan wins, they don't beat Bangladesh by a big margin as then the net run rate will come into play, which will be in Australia's favor.
For Afghanistan to advance to the semifinals, they must first defeat Bangladesh on Monday and also rely on India defeating Australia on the same day. If Afghanistan fails to defeat Bangladesh, their chances will depend on India defeating Australia by a big margin to help Afghanistan improve their net run rate, currently at -0.65.
If India loses to Australia, Afghanistan would need to secure a big margin win over Bangladesh and hope India's defeat to Australia is by a narrow margin, allowing them to potentially edge ahead in net run rate calculations.