CWC23: India one win away from semi-final berth?

Looking at the team's current form, India is a favourite to win against Sri Lanka and Netherlands, with the match against South Africa being the bigger challenge.

Hyderabad: With six wins in as many matches, team India is currently placed number 2 in the ICC World Cup 2023 points table with 12 points at a net run rate of +1.405. The men in blue beat England, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Australia so far and are scheduled to play Sri Lanka on Thursday.

While the Rohit Sharma-led team is a firm favourite to make it to the semi-finals, they have not mathematically qualified for the semis yet.

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Why has India not qualified for the semis yet?

With 12 points, Indian team is already joined by South Africa with 12 points (having played 1 match more than India at this point), while Australia, New Zealand and Afghanistan have the scope of accumulating 12 points or more.

New Zealand’s loss against South Africa in their seventh match on Wednesday, means that they will have 2 more chances to gain 2 points each from their upcoming matches. Scoring a perfect 2 in the next 2 outings, will mean that the black caps will finish their league stage at 12 points.

Australia with 8 points, also has three more matches to finish their league stage and will end with 14 points if they manage to win all their remaining matches. This also means that, with 12 points, no team can be confirmed a spot in the semis.

Afghanistan, also with three more chances at what could turn out to be a dream World Cup campaign for them, will give it everything to make it to semis. One of the three matches Afghanistan would be playing will be against Australia and a win in that match will improve their chances to reach the semis.

India, also with three matches to finish the league stage, is also vulnerable to crash out of the tournament, if a debacle is in store for the team in the upcoming matches.

How can India make it to the semis?

Looking at the team’s current form, India is a favourite to win against Sri Lanka and Netherlands, with the match against South Africa being the bigger challenge.

Fans would be hoping for an Indian win in the match against Sri Lanka on November 2, confirming a semi-final berth for the team.

The World Cup semi-finals will take place on November 14 in Mumbai and November 16 in Kolkata and the Final is scheduled for November 19 in Ahmedabad.