Afghanistan went down fighting to South Africa in the second super over in the league stage clash of the ongoing T20 World Cup. The match was played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad and with this loss, Rashid Khan and his men's chances of making it to the Super 8 round have significantly reduced. Afghanistan had already lost to New Zealand in their opening game of the tournament but they are not entirely out of the tournament yet and will have to depend on the other teams to favour them.
The basic requirement for Afghanistan to keep their hopes alive of making it to the next round is to beat the UAE and Canada in their last two group-stage matches by large margins to boost their net run rate. As far as the results of other matches are concerned, scenarios change depending on the result of New Zealand vs South Africa clash.
Here are two scenarios:
1. If New Zealand beat South Africa then the results of other matches must follow as:
UAE should beat South Africa
Canada should beat UAE
New Zealand beat Canada
If all these results go as planned, New Zealand will finish on top of the Group D points table and Afghanistan and South Africa will finish on 4 points each. In this case, net run-rate will come into play which will give a chance for Afghanistan to make it to the next round.
2. If South Africa beat New Zealand then the results of other matches must follow as:
Canada beat New Zealand
UAE beat Canada
South Africa beat UAE
In this case, South Africa will finish on top of the Group D points table with 8 points while Afghanistan and New Zealand will have four points to show for their efforts. Afghanistan can then qualify for Super 8 round if they have the better NRR than the Kiwis.
When will Afghanistan next play in T20 World Cup?
It was evident that one of the big teams would be knocked out of Group D as Afghanistan, New Zealand and South Africa were grouped together. The semifinalists of the T20 World Cup 2024 are on the verge of getting knocked out but they would be hoping now that luck favours them in the next few matches. Afghanistan will next face UAE on February 16 before they lock horns against the Canada on February 19.
Also Read
