Ganesh Kendale
NEW DELHI: India opened their campaign in the Women’s T20 World Cup with a nervy six-wicket victory over arch-rivals Pakistan in Dubai on Sunday. Despite a modest target of 106 runs, India chased it down in 18.5 overs, placing them fourth in the Group A standings.
India’s hopes of reaching the semifinals suffered a major setback following their crushing 58-run defeat to New Zealand in the opening match on Friday.
Only two teams from each group will advance to the semi-finals.
What India need to do to qualify for semis
For India to advance to the semifinal, they must secure victories against Sri Lanka and Australia in their upcoming matches. Additionally, they need to focus on winning by substantial margins to improve their run rate, which suffered after losing to New Zealand.
Defeating Australia will be a challenging task for the Women in Blue, but the playing conditions might give them a slight advantage. If India emerge victorious in all their remaining games and New Zealand manage to beat Australia, both India and New Zealand should progress to the semifinals.
However, if Australia triumph in all their matches, including the one against India, then the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side would have to rely on Sri Lanka and Pakistan defeating New Zealand in their remaining encounters. In this scenario, India would have two wins, assuming they beat Sri Lanka, along with Pakistan, while New Zealand would be limited to a single victory.
The team with a superior run-rate between India and Pakistan would then secure a spot in the semifinals. As the tournament progresses and all teams have played a minimum of three games, additional qualification scenarios might arise, providing more clarity on the situation.
