Potential Consequences of Rain-Washed Semi-Final for India’s Cricket Team

India will play their final league match against Netherlands tomorrow (November 12) at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. In the race to the semi-finals, India, Australia and South Africa have already qualified in the ongoing World Cup 2023. New Zealand is waiting to officially confirm the fourth spot in the points table after the England vs Pakistan match finishes today in Kolkata.

India is currently leading the points table and emerged as the undefeated team throughout the marquee tournament. Their eyes are on the semi-final match on 15 November at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai where they are likely to face New Zealand. Leaving South Africa (2nd) and Australia (3rd) to play the second semi-final on 16 November at Eden Gardens.

Teams finishing higher on the points table will progress to the final in case of rain playing a spoilsport in semi-finals So abiding by the rule, India will be on the positive side and reach final in case the match gets washed out. The team finishing second between the Australia and South Africa match will automatically reach final in case of a washout.

Currently Australia is facing Bangladesh in Pune. If the Pat Cummins-led side beat Bangladesh by a bigger victory margin and make their net run rate better than the Proteas, then they will reach second spot and dethrone South Africa to third place. This may benefit the Aussies during the semi-final incase match on 16 November is washed out.

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishan Kishan, Prasidh Krishna, Suryakumar Yadav.

Netherlands squad: Scott Edwards (c), Max O’Dowd, Bas de Leede, Vikram Singh, Teja Nidamanuru, Paul van Meekeren, Colin Ackermann, Roelof van der Merwe, Logan van Beek, Aryan Dutt, Ryan Klein, Wesley Barresi, Saqib Zulfiqar, Shariz Ahmad, Sybrand Engelbrecht.