T20 World Cup 2021: Here's How Can India Still Qualify For The Semifinal From Group 2

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Dubai, November 1: India have placed themselves on the brink in Group 2 of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 following a defeat to New Zealand. Now, their semifinal chances are as thin as a flower petal.

But as in such cases, the theoretical possibilities remain more like a last crumb of comfort than any real beacon of hope.

So, here is the semifinal scenario of Group 2 after the India vs New Zealand match. Pakistan with 6 points have almost assured themselves of a berth in the last four, and they have fine NRR too and one more win from their remaining two matches against Namibia and Scotland will cement their semis entry.

India

India have 0 points after two games and a Net Run Rate of -1.609. They have three matches left to play against Afghanistan, Namibia and Scotland. India will have to win all those matches now, and hope that New Zealand and Afghanistan lose at least one of their remaining matches. It can bring the NRR into play but even for that India need to play out of their skin to improve their NRR, which is abysmal to say the least.

New Zealand

They have 2 points from as many matches and NRR has improved to +0.765 after their win over India. The easiest way for them is to win all the three remaining matches, get to 8 points and earn a direct entry to the semifinals. They have to play Afghanistan, Namibia and Scotland. And the Black Caps can still miss the bus to semis even if they lose even one match out of those three. Those three matches come thick and fas too — November 3, 5, and 7 across Sharjah and Abu Dhabi.

Afghanistan

They have four points from two games and a fine NRR of +3.097. They lost the match to Pakistan but accrued maximum gains from the matches against Scotland and Namibia. They can realistically hope for upsetting the applecart of New Zealand and India and in that case a direct semi berth awaits them. But if they lose one of those matches then the NRR will come into play which at the moment favours the Afghans.