The T20 World Cup is off to a fiery and interesting start and the tournament saw a humdinger of a contest between IND and PAK on Sunday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The T20 World Cup is off to a fiery and interesting start and the tournament saw a humdinger of a contest between IND and PAK on Sunday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Rohit Sharma and Co. prevailed in a last-ball thriller and India registered a four-wicket win. Kholi was the star of the show as he played an unbeaten knock of 82 runs off just 53 balls. Owing to this win, India now have two points.
On Monday, two more matches were played in Group 2 — BAN vs NED and SA vs ZIM and both of them were played on the same venue — Bellerive Oval in Hobart. Bangladesh got the better of Netherlands while the match between SA and ZIM was abandoned due to rain.
With the match between ZIM and SA being called off, Group 2 has become really interesting and the race for the semi-finals looks like will go down to the wire.
Bangladesh and India both have two points each, but Shakib al Hasan’s side are at the top while India are at the 2ND. BAN are on top on the basis of a superior net run-rate. South Africa and Zimbabwe are at the third and 4TH spot with one point each while Pakistan and Netherlands are at the last two positions.
If IND goes on to win all of their matches, they will have 10 points and are guaranteed to cement a place in the semi-finals. Pakistan can now have a maximum of eight points while South Africa can go on to nine points. This pretty much makes the PAK-South Africa tie one of the most important clashes in this particular group.
Bangladesh can also reach 10 points, but looking at how the Bangla Tigers have performed in the shortest format over the course of last year, it looks unlikely that they will defeat the likes of India, Pakistan and South Africa.
Now, India will square off against South Africa on October 30 while PAK-South Africa clash is set for November 3. If India manages to win against the Proteas, they are most likely to top Group B and enter the semi-final stage.
Pakistan and SA are the two teams who cannot afford any slip ups in the Super 12 stage. However, one cannot count out BAN in Group 2.
