The T20 World Cup 2024 is about to enter its semifinal stage. South Africa has secured their place in the semi-finals with a thrilling win against the West Indies. With this victory Proteas joins England, who qualified after their win over the USA. Semifinalist from group 2 has already been decided. Meanwhile from group 1, India is virtually through.
Also Read: South Africa enters semifinal with thrilling win over West Indies in T20 World Cup 2024
Group 1: India on the verge, Afghanistan’s fate hangs in the balance
India, currently sitting comfortably in first position in Group 1 with 4 points and they are almost guaranteed a spot in the semi-finals. A win against Australia today will solidify their position as the group leader. However, things get interesting if India loses.
- Scenario 1: India Wins – A win against Australia assures India’s qualification as the top team from Group 1. Afghanistan, also on 2 points, will then need to defeat Bangladesh on Tuesday to join India in the next round.
- Scenario 2: Three-way tie. If India loses to Australia and Afghanistan manages to beat Bangladesh, all three teams (India, Australia, and Afghanistan) will end up with 4 points each. In this case, Net Run Rate (NRR) will be the deciding factor. Currently, Afghanistan has a lower NRR compared to India and Australia. To qualify, they would need a convincing victory against Bangladesh, winning by a significant margin to improve their NRR.
- Scenario 3: The other three-way tie. If Afghanistan loses to Bangladesh and Australia loses to India, all three teams (Afghanistan, Australia and Bangladesh) will end up with 2 points each. In this case NRR will come into and most likely it will favour Australia as the Aussies have better NRR than the other two teams.
- Scenario 4: India can only miss out on the semi-finals if both Australia and Afghanistan win their remaining matches by an exceptional margin – exceeding 120 runs. This scenario is highly unlikely.
- Scenario 5: If India loses to Australia and Afghanistan also falls to Bangladesh, then India and Australia will progress due to having more points.
- Here again, NRR could play a role if Australia loses by a significant margin, affecting their NRR compared to India.
What a finish in Antigua 🥵
The Proteas go through to the #T20WorldCup Semi-Finals 🌟#WIvSA 📝 https://t.co/Gv3hNXD6c4 pic.twitter.com/tWbznVDrIk
— ICC (@ICC) June 24, 2024
Group 2: South Africa joins defending champions England
South Africa’s win over West Indies on June 24 secured their place in the semi-finals. This victory also eliminates the Windies from further contention. Joining them are the defending champions, England, who had already qualified after their win over the USA on June 23.
With South Africa and England confirmed for the semi-finals, the race for the remaining two spots intensifies in Group 1. India is in a strong position, but their final match against Australia holds significance. Afghanistan will be looking to pull off a victory against Bangladesh and improve their NRR to potentially enter into the semifinal stage.
T20 World Cup 2024 semifinal fixture
The topper from Group 1 (most likely India) will play against the second-positioned team of group 2, who are the defending champion England. Meanwhile, the topper of Group 2 (South Africa) will be up against the second-positioned team of Group 1 (most likely Afghanistan or Australia).
