T20 World Cup - What South Africa’s win Over West Indies Would Mean for Team India and their semi-final hopes

After suffering a humiliating defeat  in the match against South Africa, the Indian team is on the verge of elimination in the T20 World Cup. Meanwhile, West Indies' victory over Zimbabwe by a century has made India's path to the semifinals even more difficult.

The match between South Africa and West Indies, starting at 3 pm on Thursday, will be of utmost importance, more than what happens in the remaining matches.

The Indian team has played only one of the three Super-8 round matches in the T20 World Cup, with two more matches remaining, but the big defeat against Africa and the dominating victory of the Windies versus the Sikandar Raza-led side has changed all the qualification equations for the Men in Blue.

Will the Indian team make it to the semi-finals? There is a lot of discussion on social media and in Indian cricket circles about whether they will make it to the semi-finals. Only top 2 finishing teams from the each group will qualify for the semis.

South Africa and West Indies have one win each, while India and Zimbabwe are still in the dark. Along with points, net run rate is also important. South Africa's net run rate is (+3.80), West Indies' net run rate is (+5.35). The Men in Blue, on the other hand, have a pitiful net run rate of (-3.80).

What is the equation?

1. There are two matches on Thursday. The first match is between South Africa and West Indies in Ahmedabad at 3 pm. After that, the India-Zimbabwe match will be played in Chennai at 7 pm.

2. India's semi-final challenge will remain intact only if South Africa wins the afternoon match, otherwise even if India wins over Zimbabwe, it won't make much difference.

According to this equation, South Africa's semi-final berth will be confirmed even before the match against Zimbabwe. Even after Africa's victory over the Windies, India will need to win against Zimbabwe on Thursday and against the West Indies on March 1.

Another possibility

Suppose West Indies defeat South Africa on Thursday afternoon, then Zimbabwe will have to beat South Africa in the match to be played on March 1 in the afternoon (but this is difficult in the current situation.) After that, India will have to win against Zimbabwe and West Indies. In such a situation, South Africa will be out of the competition and West Indies and India will go to the semi-finals.

India's match against Zimbabwe is being played in Chennai on Thursday, while the match against West Indies is scheduled for March 1 in Kolkata.

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