India opened their account in the Women's T20 World Cup with a nervy six-wicket victory over arch-rivals Pakistan in Dubai on Sunday. Despite a modest target of 106 runs, India chased it down in 18.5 overs, placing them fourth in the Group A standings.
India's hopes of reaching the semifinals suffered a major setback following their crushing 58-run defeat to New Zealand in the opening match on Friday.
Only two teams from each group will advance to the semi-finals.
What India need to do to qualify for semis
India’s net run rate remains in the negative due to the nature of the loss to the White Ferns, with the NRR currently at -1.217.
For India to advance to the semifinal, they must secure victories against Sri Lanka and Australia in their upcoming matches. Additionally, they need to focus on winning by substantial margins to improve their run rate, which suffered after losing to New Zealand.
Defeating Australia will be a challenging task for the Women in Blue, but the playing conditions might give them a slight advantage. If India emerge victorious in all their remaining games and New Zealand manage to beat Australia, both India and New Zealand should progress to the semifinals.
However, if Australia triumph in all their matches, including the one against India, then the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side would have to rely on Sri Lanka and Pakistan defeating New Zealand in their remaining encounters. In this scenario, India would have two wins, assuming they beat Sri Lanka, along with Pakistan, while New Zealand would be limited to a single victory.
The team with a superior run-rate between India and Pakistan would then secure a spot in the semifinals. As the tournament progresses and all teams have played a minimum of three games, additional qualification scenarios might arise, providing more clarity on the situation.
Win first, NRR later
India’s players insisted the objective was to get a win on the difficult surface even though the net run rate was on the back of their minds.
“We were thinking about it, but Shafali and I weren't able to time it well,” Smriti Mandhana said after.
“We didn't want to get to a place where we were chasing the game, but NRR was in our heads.
“This game will give us some momentum, and hopefully, we can keep going in this tournament.”
The issue of NRR was also posed to Player of the Match Arundhati Reddy in the press conference.
“We understand net run rate is important, but also winning the game is all the more important for us,” Reddy said.
“Like you said again, net run rate will be in play especially in this group.
“Honestly today the wicket was playing a little slower. So obviously, the batters could not. The main thing was to finish the game.
“But we've discussed it, and we're looking forward to improve on it in the next few games.”
Remaining fixtures in Group A
Australia v New Zealand – Tuesday 8 October (18:00 local time), Sharjah Cricket Stadium
India v Sri Lanka – Wednesday 9 October (14:00 local time), Dubai International Cricket Stadium
Australia v Pakistan – Friday 11 October (18:00 local time), Dubai International Cricket Stadium
New Zealand v Sri Lanka – Saturday 12 October (14:00 local time), Sharjah Cricket Stadium
India v Australia – Sunday 13 October (18:00 local time), Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Pakistan v New Zealand – Monday 14 October (18:00 local time), Dubai International Cricket Stadium
