Afghanistan’s win over Australia spices up Group 1 semi-final race

SAINT VINCENT: Afghanistan’s stunning 21-run victory over Australia on Saturday has ignited the semi-final race of Group 1 of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 Super Eights.

Australia’s victory over Afghanistan would have propelled them, alongside India, into the semi-finals of the ongoing mega event but the Asian side avenged their ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 defeat to make things tough for the former champions.

Inaugural champions India currently lead the Group 1 standings with four points in two matches and a net run-rate of +2.425.

Whereas, Australia, despite their loss against Afghanistan are second in the standings with two points in two games, ahead of Afghanistan, who boast a similar record but an inferior net run-rate.

The upset brought Afghanistan back into contention to seal their first-ever semi-final berth in Men’s T20 World Cups as they now need to beat Bangladesh in their last Super Eights fixture, scheduled on June 25.

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If Afghanistan beat Bangladesh and Australia lose to India then they, alongside India, would advance into the knockouts.

But if Australia defeat India in their remaining Super Eights fixture on June 24 they would be favourites to advance into the semi-finals regardless of the Afghanistan-Bangladesh fixture’s result, considering their superior net run-rate.

Notably, India are all but certain to qualify for the T20 World Cup 2024 semi-final as a defeat against Australia would not dent their chances much unless the Mitchell Marsh-led side humble them with a hefty margin and Afghanistan blow away Bangladesh in a similar manner.

Mathematically, India can only crash out of the semi-final race if Australia and Afghanistan win their respective Super Eights matches with a margin of over 120 runs.

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