Abu Dhabi: Sending out a loud and clear message for their critics, after thrashing Afghanistan, the men in blue will be high on confident to lock horns with Namibia and Scotland in the coming matches.
On Wednesday, team India defeated Afghanistan by 66-run which kept their slim chance of reaching the semifinals alive.
The team India also recorded the highest team total so far in the T20 World Cup 2021 with a 210/2 finish against the neighbor Afghanistan.
Indian openers Rohit Sharma (74) and KL Rahul (69) flayed the Afghanistan attack after back to back two losses in the Super 12 stage against Pakistan and New Zealand. Later, late cameos from Rishabh Pant (27*) and Hardik Pandya (35*) powered the side past the 200-run mark.
However, after winning the match against neighbor, the question again comes here that still India can make it to the semifinals or not?
Run rate to play a significant role
Indian team now must pray that New Zealand must lose in one of the matches ahead.
If India wins the last three matches, then it will get 6 points. If the Kiwi team loses one match and wins two, then it will also get 6 points. Team India should pray Afghanistan defeats in other matches.
Indian failed to defeat Afghanistan with a huge margin. On the other hand Afghanistan run rates is very good. So, India team needs to win against other teams with a big margin. At the end, if the two teams have the same number of points then it will be decided by net run rate.
After a win against Afghanistan, the men in blue now have a positive net run rate of 0.073. Now for men in blue to qualify, the kiwis need to drop points in one of their remaining two matches, either Afghanistan or Namibia, which is unlikely considering their current form. However, a narrow 16-run win against Scotland states otherwise.
However, there is a possibility that could be three-way tie at 6 points if India end up winning the remaining two matches and New Zealand beat Namibia but lose to Afghanistan. Eventually, the net run will decide which team will go through.
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