T20 World Cup: Why India need a favour from Pakan to stay alive in semifinals race after loss to Australia | Cricket News
After enduring a close loss to Australia, the Harmanpreet Kaur-led Indian outfit will have to rely on arch-rivals Pakan’s result against New Zealand to go further in the Women’s T20 World Cup.
While India are still mathematically alive in their quest for the semifinal, they need Pakan to defeat an in-form New Zealand outfit but there’s also a catch here. The Women in Blue need Pakan to beat the Kiwis but not too heavily.
With India’s net run rate (NRR) still above the BlackCaps, any sort of Pakan win will eliminate White Ferns. For India’s NRR to remain above Pakan these are the possible scenarios: if Pakan are chasing 121, they must take at least 10.5 overs to do so. If Pakan score 150, they must not win more than 52 runs.
On Sunday, India lost to defending champions Australia nine runs in their last group match to find themselves in a difficult position to qualify for the semifinals of the women’s T20 World Cup.
Chasing 152 for a win, India ended at 142 for 9 with captain Harmanpreet Kaur top-scoring with 54 not out off 47 balls. Deepti Sharma and Shafali Verma chipped in with 29 and 20 respectively.
India ended their Group A campaign on four points after two wins and two losses.
Australia, who topped the group with all four wins, qualified for the semifinals while New Zealand (4 points) need a win against Pakan on Monday to make it to the last-four stage.
Opting to bat, Australia were restricted to 151 for 8 with opener Grace Harris top-scoring with 40 off 41 balls. Stand-in captain Tahlia McGrath and Ellyse Perry chipped in with 32 each.
For India, Renuka Singh and Deepti Sharma took two wickets apiece while Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav and Shreyanka Patil got one each.
(With agency inputs)
