India women cricket team defeated Sri Lanka by 82 runs to give a big boost to their net run-rate in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024.
India women cricket team posted their biggest ever T20 World Cup win, defeating Sri Lanka women team by 82 runs in match No. 12 of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 in Dubai on Wednesday (October 9). The win helped Harmanpreet Kaur’s side leapfrog over arch-rivals Pakistan women team into second spot on the Group A points table with 4 points and an NRR of 0.576 after three matches.
Defending world champions Australia are leading the Group A table with 4 points from 2 matches with an NRR of 2.524 and are almost assured of a berth in the semifinal. However, India’s last match is against the mighty Australians and the Indians can’t afford a big defeat.
The win over Chamari Athapaththu’s Sri Lankan team boosted India’s NRR from -1.217 to 0.576. India’s best route to the final will be somehow defeating Australia in their final Group A match on Sunday.
Harmanpreet Kaur’s side will also hope that both New Zealand and Pakistan should lose at least one of their remaining two matches. If India can best Australia on Sunday, there is a possibility that there will be a three-way tie with Indian, Aussies and New Zealand will be on six points.
If India win against Australia by a narrow margin of just one run, New Zealand women cricket team would need to win their two remaining matches against Sri Lanka and Pakistan by a combined margin of approximately 38 runs to go past India’s NRR. If India win by a margin of 10 runs then this combined margin increases to approximately 48 runs.
Sophie Devine’s New Zealand team have the advantage of playing the final Group A match against Pakistan and will know the exact target they need to achieve to make the semifinals.
The emotions are running high 🆙 for the #WomenInBlue and for us! 💙
The 82-run win over #SriLanka was just too good! 🤩
Watch next 👉🏻 #AUSvIND on #WomensWorldCupOnStar at SUN, 13 OCT, 7 PM | #HerStory pic.twitter.com/4pFpFlrpsu
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) October 10, 2024
Can India reach semifinal with 4 points?
Team India can also reach the semifinals with a defeat against Australia on Sunday. However, they will have to make sure that the margin of the defeat is as little as possible.
In addition to this, they will have to hope that New Zealand and Pakistan lose at least one of their remaining two matches. Pakistan women cricket team face Australia on Friday and New Zealand on Monday. While New Zealand will take on Sri Lanka women team on Saturday.