Qudrat Ka Nizam back in the T20 World Cup? How rain in the match against India can beat Australia

As India and Australia gear up for a T20 World Cup 2024 Super 8 match in St Lucia, it is not just the men from Down Under who are keeping their fingers crossed, hoping for clear skies in the high-profile match. Australia need to beat India if they want to keep their qualification hopes in their own hands, while India are practically through to the next round thanks to their excellent Net Run Rate. But a loss to Australia will directly benefit the Afghan team who will face Bangladesh next. But amid this tense situation in Group 1 of the Super 8s, the rain gods in St. Lucia were able to play spoilsport and decide the fate of the teams’ semi-finals for themselves.

Afghanistan boosted their chances of reaching their first-ever World Cup semi-final when they defeated the mighty Australians on Saturday.

As things stand, India leads the group, followed by Australia and Afghanistan – both with two points each – and Bangladesh is in last place.

Rohit Sharma and his men are favorites to qualify for the last four with a net run rate of 2.425, while Australia (0.223) has a superior NRR compared to Afghanistan (-0.650).

Afghanistan will watch the clash between India and Australia with bated breath, hoping that Rohit Sharma’s men will be on the winning side – a result that will give them a golden opportunity to qualify for the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup when they take on Bangladesh in their Super Eights match.

But if rain washes out the match, both Australia and India will get one point each. Such a situation would push India to the semi-finals as group winners. In that case, Australia would hope that Bangladesh would defeat Afghanistan. A win for Afghanistan against Bangladesh, regardless of the margin, would take them to the last four.

Rashid Khan and Co. here’s hoping India do them a favor by beating Australia so they go into the match knowing exactly what they need to do to make it to the semi-finals, or the weather gods will wash it out.

But if Australia wins, it will be a tough task for Afghanistan to overtake the former champions on NRR. That said, Afghanistan will be super confident having exacted revenge from Australia for their ODI World Cup loss in Mumbai last year.

Regardless of the outcome between India and Australia, the Afghans would fancy their chances against down-and-out Bangladesh, who already looked happy to advance to the Super Eights.

That Afghanistan has the skills and mentality to excel in this format is not in dispute. They have proven that they are no longer a side that relies solely on their bowling unit to deliver wins.

With PTI inputs