Into the Knockouts of WC

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Into the Knockouts

 

Defending Champions are out of the T20 World Cup

It is hard for the Australian Cricket fans to believe that despite being the defending champions and being the host nation they are out from the T20 WC 2022. When they won the trophy last year in UAE, which were not the ideal conditions for them, everyone thought they will be clear favorite for this year’s T20 WC also as it was happening in their home conditions. But yesterday they have got a heartbreak as they are officially out of the tournament.

 

With New Zealand, England, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Ireland in the group it was always difficult for Australia. In group of death you cannot afford to lost momentum and every game becomes important for a team. The NRR becomes a huge factor in this situation. And in this tournament rain also played a huge factor. At the end Australia have disqualified just because of poor NRR. Points wise they were equal with other two qualifying teams New Zealand & England.

 

The heavy defeat against New Zealand and not able to increase their NRR against Ireland & Afghanistan have badly affected their campaign. While that win for New Zealand had given them that heavy boost in their NRR. At the end of the day it was the NRR factor who had gone in favor of the Aussies last year’s T20 WC, but this time around it cost them. Last time it was South Africa who got failed in this challenging group, while this time it is Australia.



 

South Africa Choked Again

It is beyond expectations and very hard to believe that South Africa are out of the WC after being top the table for most amount of time in league stage. One loss against Netherlands in the final day of league stage and they are out. One cannot understand how South Africa can choke at this crucial point? They were at top of group-2, on 5 points after 3 games, but then lost 2 back to back games and finished their campaign on a horrible note.


Losing to Pakistan is still understandable but losing to Netherlands in a must win game is not expected at all. Yes there are few upsets have already happened and there is no disrespect to Netherlands but the position at which South Africa are and with momentum going it was expected an easy win for them. But Netherlands actually outplayed South Africa in all department.

 

It’s a heartbreak for them and their fans as they are waiting to qualify to ICC Tournament’s Knockouts since 2016. The last time they have entered into the knockouts was in 2015 ODI WC, where they lost against New Zealand in a thriller. This time around the whole country were celebrating and expecting they will do something big but with this result they are almost broken today. Not picking the best XI and choking in crucial moment have hurt them badly.

 

Last time around they missed the bus to Semi-finals just because of their poor NRR in group of death. But here being at a relatively weaker group they have failed to do so. And there is another WC coming up in next year in India of 50 over format for which they might need to play qualifiers round which is even more worst. South Africa needs to do something really special to bring back their fortune and glory.



 

India, Pakistan, England and New Zealand have made it to the Semi-finals.

New Zealand & England are the two teams from group-1 whereas India & Pakistan from group-2 have reached to Semi-finals in this year’s T20 World Cup. India, New Zealand and England have been consistently doing these or we can say it they have made it as a habit in ICC events. While Pakistan have made it 2 in 2 from last year. It is going to be 7th, 6th, 5th and 3rd knockouts for India, New Zealand, England and Pakistan respectively in ICC tournaments since 2014.

 

However New Zealand, England and Pakistan have got the trophy only once during this period but unfortunately despite being the most consistent team India haven’t got that glory moment. Winning the Championship and finishing at the podium depends on the one final day’s performance but continuously reaching onto that moment is also a huge achievement. So credit to all the 4 teams.

 


Road to Semi-finals:-

New Zealand

Blackcaps started their tournament with a bang by defeating defending champions and hosts Australia with huge margin, which eventually became the reason for Australia’s early exit from the WC. In the next game against Afghanistan it resulted in a washout, for which the points were shared. Post that New Zealand won their third game against Sri Lanka quite comfortably. England gave them a wake up call in the 4th game but still with the win over Ireland in their last league game and with highest NRR among top 3 teams they easily qualified into the semis at the top of the group.



 

England

England’s start to the tournament was also good but not that comfortable. They won the 1st game against Afghanistan but it was a tense game for them. In the 2nd match they faced a huge setback against Ireland team where they loss by DLS method in a rain interrupted game. While their most challenging game against Australia was washed out due to rain. With 3 points in 3 games last 2 games were like do or die for them. But here they showed their quality and class and won both the games against New Zealand & Sri Lanka.

However Australia also finished with 7 points but England’s games were very closely contested, so they were superior with NRR. And that became the parameter at the end.



 

India

After getting serious heartbreak in last year T20 WC India had done well in terms of preparation for this tournament. And those hard works paid very well in required time. They started with a huge win over arc-rival Pakistan in an exciting match and then beat the Dutch easily. South Africa gave us a timely wake-up call in Perth. 4th game against Bangladesh was a very tensed one where we were almost at loosing situation but some how pulled it after rain break.

In the last day of league matches, with Netherlands win we qualified for the Semis before playing our last game. Since we won our game against Zimbabwe, we finished at top in our group.



Pakistan

Pakistan will certainly feel being lucky to be in Semis after losing their first 2 matches. In the very first game against India they were almost at a position to win the game but it was Virat Kohli’s master class which gave them a setback. After that they couldn’t got out of that unbelievable loss and messed up their game against Zimbabwe. Since then they were depending on other team’s result as well as required to win all their matches, which they did. They beat Netherlands and South Africa quite convincingly in next two games.

While South Africa’s lose against Netherlands today gave them a great opportunity on which they capitalized. In the last league game which became virtual Quarter Final against Bangladesh they won it easily and made to the Semis.


                                                All Picture Sources: Google

 

Knockout Stage Fixtures:-

  • Ø New Zealand vs Pakistan on 9th November at Sydney.
  • Ø India vs England on 10th November at Adelaide.
  • Ø Final on 13th November at MCG.

 

Points Table


Group-1

Team

Played

Won

Loss

Draw

Points

NRR

NZ(Q)

5

3

1

1

7

+2.113

ENG(Q)

5

3

1

1

7

+0.473

AUS

5

3

1

1

7

-0.173

SL

5

2

3

0

4

-0.422

IRE

5

1

3

1

3

-1.615

AFG

5

0

3

2

2

-0.571

 

 

 

Group-2

Team

Played

Won

Loss

Draw

Points

NRR

IND(Q)

5

4

1

0

8

+1.319

PAK(Q)

5

3

2

0

6

+1.028

RSA

5

2

2

1

5

+0.874

NED

5

2

3

0

4

-0.894

BAN

5

2

3

0

4

-1.176

ZIM

5

1

3

1

3

-1.138

 

 

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