We are almost at the halfway stage in the ongoing 9th edition of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. The battle for the top two spots in both Groups, A and B heats up as we get closer to the business end of the league stages of the tournament which will be followed by a couple of semi-finals and then a grand finale on the 20th of October 2024.
Most of the teams in Group B are left with the final league match of their campaign except for England, who will face Scotland and the West Indies in their next couple of games. On the other hand, in Group A India and Sri Lanka are left with one game each, while the others in the group have a couple each. Apart from the reigning champions Australia, India started the tournament as the favorites from Group A. As far as Group B is concerned, apart from England, South Africa was the other team that started the tournament as favourites.
🇮🇳 India jumps to 2nd Spot in the Points table 🧿 #CricketTwitter #T20WorldCup2024 pic.twitter.com/KTEFQ19Ldu
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) October 9, 2024
Semi-final Qualification Scenarios:
The Australian side led by skipper Alyssa Healy are firmly placed at the top of the table with four points from two games and a supreme net run rate. They are scheduled to face Pakistan led by the stand-in skipper Muneeba Ali on 11th October 2024, in the absence of Fatima Sana, who has traveled back to Pakistan due to her father’s demise. A win against Pakistan would more or less ensure them a spot in the semis, irrespective of the result in their final league game against India.
However, if Pakistan manages to pull off an upset against Australia, it will widely open up the table as far as group A is concerned. Then their game against India will be a virtual quarter-final.
The Indian team led by skipper Harmanpreet Kaur was pushed on the back foot by New Zealand led by skipper Sophie Devine with a massive 58-run defeat. However, India bounced back with back-to-back victories against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The 82-run win against the Asian T20 Champions, Sri Lanka took care of the net run rate for the Women in Blue. All eyes will be on the Australia Vs Pakistan game as the Indian team will be rooting for the Aussies to get over the line in tonight’s encounter at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
India will then have to beat Australia in the final league game of their campaign at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium and ensure a superior net run rate than New Zealand. Sri Lanka led by skipper Chamari Athapaththu from Group A and Scotland led by skipper Kathryn Bryce from Group B are officially knocked out of the tournament.
The 1st Semi-final will be played at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on 17th October 2024 and the 2nd semi-final will be played at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on 18th October 2024 from 7:30 PM IST. The final will be played on 20th October 2024 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium from 7:30 PM IST.
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