T20 WC: Even 2 Wins Not Enough India Now?

Considering the fact that India is one of the host nations of the ongoing T20 World Cup, they naturally started the tournament as one of the title favourites. In accordance with this, India was absolutely brilliant in the group stages as they won all four of their games.

But the real challenge started in the Super 8 stage where India faced significant opposition for the first time in the form of South Africa. However, this did not go as planned for India as they ended up losing the game to South Africa by a massive margin of 76 runs.

This comprehensive defeat to South Africa will essentially mean that India find themselves in a very weak position in the knockout stages of the tournament.

The net run rate of India has dropped to -3.8, which is pathetic at this point in the ICC tournament. This is a very alarming number for India, considering the negative run rate, as this could come back to haunt the team in the later stage.

On top of that, the point to be noted here is that India is not guaranteed a place in the semi-final stage even if they win the remaining two games against Zimbabwe and West Indies. In case South Africa end up closing to West Indies, then things could go south.

This is due to the hugely negative run rate that has been put up by India. It has landed them in a position where winning the remaining two games will also not guarantee the semi-final position.

For starters, India will have to absolutely destroy the upcoming opponents and massively spike their run rate, which is impractical considering the competitive nature of the tournament. This is a repercussion that India will have to face for putting up such a pathetic batting performance against South Africa last night.