India may have progressed to the Super Eight as group champions, but they stumbled at the very start of the second phase. The defeat to South Africa in their opening match proved a major setback. A win over Zimbabwe in the following game, however, has kept Suryakumar Yadav’s side alive in the race for the semi-finals. Now, they await what is effectively an unofficial quarter-final against the West Indies.
The crucial encounter will begin at 7:30 pm on Sunday at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The winner will join England in the second semi-final.
There are no complicated equations to solve in this virtual knockout. South Africa have already secured a semi-final spot from Group 1, while Zimbabwe are out of contention. The battle for the second position is now a straight fight between India and the West Indies.
Net run rate, however, cannot be entirely ignored. If rain forces the match to be abandoned, both teams will share points and move to three each. In that scenario, the West Indies would advance to the semi-finals due to their superior net run rate of +1.791, compared to India’s -0.100. Weather forecasts for Kolkata, though, suggest there is no significant chance of rain.
The last time India hosted a T20 World Cup, it was the West Indies who knocked them out in the semi-finals. The Caribbean side went on to win the title in 2016 at Eden Gardens, defeating England in the final, highlighted by Carlos Brathwaite’s four consecutive sixes off Ben Stokes.
West Indies head coach Darren Sammy, who captained the team during that triumph, evoked those memories ahead of the clash. “It feels like David versus Goliath,” Sammy said. “But let me remind you, in 2016, David beat Goliath. That’s what I’ll be telling the boys on match day.”
