Explained - T20 World Cup Super 12 Group 2 Semifinal Qualification Scenarios For India, Pakistan And South Africa

The T20 World Cup is off to a fiery and interesting start and the tournament saw a humdinger of a contest between India and Pakistan on Sunday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Rohit Sharma and Co. prevailed in a last-ball thriller and India registered a four-wicket win. Virat Kohli 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 -- Bangladesh vs Netherlands and South Africa vs Zimbabwe and both of them were played on the same venue -- Bellerive Oval in Hobart. Bangladesh got the better of Netherlands while the match between South Africa and Zimbabwe was abandoned due to rain.

With the match between Zimbabwe and South Africa 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 second. Bangladesh are on top on the basis of a superior net run-rate. South Africa and Zimbabwe are at the third and fourth spot with one point each while Pakistan and Netherlands are at the last two positions.

If India 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 Pakistan-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 Pakistan-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 South Africa are the two teams who cannot afford any slip ups in the Super 12 stage. However, one cannot count out Bangladesh in Group 2.

Here are the remaining fixtures in Group 2, Super 12 stage

October 27 -- South Africa vs Bangladesh, Netherlands vs India and Pakistan vs Zimbabwe

October 30 -- Bangladesh vs Zimbabwe, Netherlands vs Pakistan and India vs South Africa

November 2 -- Zimbabwe vs Netherlands and India vs Bangladesh

November 3 -- Pakistan vs South Africa

November 6 -- South Africa vs Netherlands, Pakistan vs Bangladesh and India vs Zimbabwe

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team Pakistan Cricket Team South Africa Cricket Team Bangladesh Cricket Team Rohit Sharma Virat Kohli ICC T20 World Cup 2022 Cricket