Women’s T20 World Cup: India’s semi-final hopes still uncertain despite beating Pakistan

Women's T20 World Cup: The Indian women's team has opened its account by defeating Pakistan by 6 wickets with 7 balls remaining, but India's journey to the semi-finals remains extremely difficult. Let's explain the full math behind India's semi-final hopes.

After losing to New Zealand in the first match of the ICC T20 World Cup, the Indian women's cricket team has bounced back by defeating Pakistan by 6 wickets with 7 balls remaining. Although the match was low-scoring, the Indian team had to work hard to win. In this Group A match, Pakistan won the toss and decided to bat first. The Indian team restricted Pakistan to 105 runs for 8 wickets. However, India's batting was slow, and they scored 108 runs for 4 wickets in 18.5 overs, opening their account in the tournament. Despite this, India's semi-final hopes remain uncertain.

First boundary in the 8th over

Chasing a modest target of 106 runs, the Indian batsmen were extremely slow. The first boundary of the innings came in the 8th over. India needed to improve their net run rate, but it didn't happen. The top-order batsmen failed to score boundaries for 42 balls. Shafali Verma hit the first boundary in the 8th over, scoring 32 runs in 35 balls, including three boundaries. Captain Harmanpreet scored 29 runs in 24 balls, including one boundary, before retiring hurt.

India suffers a second blow

Indian fast bowler Pooja Vastrakar was injured and couldn't play in this match. Sanjana was given a chance in her place. During the match against Pakistan, captain Harmanpreet suffered an injury, and India suffered their second blow. Harmanpreet hurt herself while batting and had to retire hurt. Despite this, the Indian team maintained their dominance over Pakistan. This is India's fifth win in seven matches against Pakistan in the World Cup and 14th in 16 T20 matches.

Failed to improve net run rate

India had a great opportunity to improve their net run rate in this match, but they missed it. Pakistan's bowlers performed well, and the Indian batsmen struggled to score quickly. Despite winning the match, the Indian team remains fourth in Group A, below Pakistan.

India fourth despite winning

New Zealand defeated India in the first match of the World Cup, and India needed to win by a big margin to improve their net run rate. However, the team struggled to score boundaries. As a result, India has moved up to fourth place in the group table, while Pakistan remains third despite losing.

How India can make it to the semi-finals

The Women's T20 World Cup is being played between 10 teams, divided into two groups of 5 teams each. India is in Group A, along with Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. India needs to defeat Sri Lanka by a big margin in their next match to improve their net run rate. Then, they need to hope that New Zealand defeats Australia by a big margin, which will harm Australia's net run rate. In their final group match, India needs to defeat Australia by a big margin and hope that Pakistan loses their match.