Can Australia still qualify for T20 World Cup semis?

Australia on Friday defeated Afghanistan by four runs at the Adelaide Oval in the Super-12 encounter in the ongoing T20 World Cup. With the win, the hosts keep their semifinals hope alive as they are currently second in the Group 1 points table with seven points, but now the Aussies will have to be dependent on the result of England’s last group match against Sri Lanka on Saturday.

Earlier in the day, New Zealand officially became the first team to qualify for the semifinals of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup on account of a better net run rate. The Black Caps first defeated Ireland to put one foot in the semis, however, their place in the next round was confirmed when Australia were unable to score 180+ total in their match against Afghanistan thus failing to get ahead of New Zealand’s net run rate.

Moreover, Australia failed to get past England’s net run rate as the hosts needed to restrict Afghanistan below 106 after posting 168 for eight. The Aussies finished the group stage with an NRR of -0.713 which is far less than England’s NRR of +0.547.

Now the question which arises is – How can Australia qualify for semis?

• For Australia, the equation is simple – the hosts can only qualify for the semis if Sri Lanka beat England in the last game of the Group 1.
• If England win against Sri Lanka then they will end the group stage with seven points just like Australia, however, Jos Buttler’s side will progress to the next round on the basis of a better net run rate than the hosts.
• Also, if England vs Sri Lanka game gets washed out then Australia will qualify for the semis as they will have a point more than England.
• Meanwhile, Sri Lanka doesn’t stand a chance to enter the semis as they currently have four points and the best that they can get to is six points.

Talking about the match, defending champions Australia survived a late Rashid Khan onslaught to eke out a narrow four-run win over Afghanistan.

Glenn Maxwell was the top-scorer for Australia as he hit a quickfire fifty but Afghanistan pulled things back nicely in the final five overs to limit the defending champions to a decent total.

Maxwell made an unbeaten 32-ball 54 that included six boundaries and two hits over the fence after Afghanistan invited Australia to bat.

In response, Afghanistan nearly pulled off a sensational win, riding on Rashid’s (48 not out off 23 balls) pyrotechnics but eventually fell short.

(With PTI inputs)