In the ongoing, first-ever edition of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Under-19 Women’s Twenty20 (T20) World Cup, India, who consistently put on bright league stage performances, lost to Australia in their first ‘Super Six’ game, and does that mean, India have hit the dead end? or is there still a possibility of an escape to the Semi-Finals? We below brief you on the same.
What’s Super Six, and who are the teams?
Out of the 16 participating teams, 12 have progressed through the first round of the tournament and have advanced into two groups of six each for the ‘Super Six’. The Super Six phase sees Bangladesh, South Africa, India, Australia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Sri Lanka placed in Group 1, and the other, Group 2 sees, England, Ireland, New Zealand, Rwanda, Pakistan, and West Indies in the mix.
How crucial are points from the league stage/first round?
Points accumulated in the first round against other teams who’ve progressed to the Super Six phase are important as they carry over into the next section of the tournament, and points earned against teams who’ve made an early exit, i.e, Scotland, United States of America, Zimbabwe and Indonesia, do not carry over to the Super Six stage.
Excluding points against the team who had an early exit, India stands first on the points table with 4 points to their name and has Bangladesh follow with as many points. Australia and South Africa are placed 3rd and 4th respectively with a couple of points each, but now that India has lost their opener of Super Six to Australia, and so has Bangladesh to South Africa, the table seems to have turned but there’s a catch.
🇦🇺 Australia U19 won by 7 wickets
🇮🇳 India U19: 87 (18.5)
Shweta Sehrawat: 21 (29)
Titas Sadhu: 14 (13)
Sienna Ginger 3-13🇦🇺 Australia U19: 88-3 (13.5)
Claire Moore: 25* (28)
Amy Smith: 26* (25)
Archana Devi 1-7#CricketTwitter #U19T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/0yadMGia7H— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) January 21, 2023
What does India’s scenario to the Semi-Final look like?
Scenario 1, wins in Super 6 the first tie-breaker. If South Africa and Australia go on to register a win each and finish with 4 points, they’ll then qualify as the top 2 from Group 1. This simply means, India has hit a dead end in the tournament that they entered as favorites and the glimmer of hope for their ticket to the Semi-Final lies in an upset, that if occurs, with Australia losing to the UAE or South Africa losing to Bangladesh, India, can only then go through.
Scenario 2, wins from first alone also count towards the total. If that’s the case, India’s win from the first round against South Africa and the UAE, and expecting India don’t face an upset against Sri Lanka, India with 6 points will go through to the semi-final.
For India, what’s to be eyed ahead?
India has got to win their 2nd and only remaining contest against Sri Lanka on the 22nd of January in the Super 6 and if points from round 1 count, they with 6 points will go through to the Semi-Final on better Net Run Rate (NRR).
If the tie-breaker to decide which teams advance to the Semi-Final, in the first place sees wins in Super 6, considering Australia on the 23rd of January and South Africa on the 24th win their respective remaining games, the two sides with a couple of wins each will go through.
