ICC T20 World Cup 2024: England, New Zealand and Pakistan stare at early exit after Sri Lanka crash out

The ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup has thrown a lot of surprises. While matches involving India, Australia, South Africa etc have gone as per the script, defending champions England, Pakistan, New Zealand and Sri Lanka stare at an early exit from the World Cup after a couple of underwhelming performances.

Twenty teams playing in the ongoing T20 World Cup teams are divided into four groups of five teams each. The teams play four matches, one against every other team in the group, and the top two teams from each group will qualify for the Super Eights.

Let’s take a look at how the Super Eight scenarios are in each group.

Group A: India (Q), USA, Pakistan, Canada, Ireland

India have qualified after beating co-hosts USA by seven wickets in New York on Wednesday. Pakistan, the next highest ranked team in the group, finds themselves on the brink of elimination. Pakistan lost to the USA and India but beat Canada to stay third in the group with just two points. On the other hand, USA beat Canada and Pakistan to be second with four points.

Pakistan has to win against Ireland and hope the USA loses to Ireland and then it will boil down to the Net Run Rate.

Any washout, which could be likely given how the weather is in Florida, will send Pakistan out of the T20 World Cup and USA will qualify for the Super Eight along with India.

Group B: Australia (Q), Scotland, Namibia, England, and Oman

Australia have qualified for the Super Eights and the next best team in the group, England, is in trouble. They need two massive wins—against Oman and Namibia—and they’ll move on level terms with Scotland, who are sitting second in the group. It’ll then boil down to the net run rate, and if Scotland avoids a big defeat against Australia, they could be in the Super Eight.

Group C: West Indies (Q), Afghanistan, Uganda, Papua New Guinea, and New Zealand

New Zealand have lost both their matches—first to Afghanistan and the second to the West Indies—and they should now win against Uganda and Papua New Guinea by huge margins. They should hope for their Net Run Rate to surpass Afghanistan’s and given the current equations the teams are in, it looks unlikely.

West Indies sit pretty at the top of the table and New Zealand would hope for West Indies and Papua New Guinea to beat Afghanistan. If Afghanistan wins their match against PNG, the Rashid Khan led team, along with the West Indies, will progress to the next stage.

Group D: South Africa (Q), Bangladesh, Netherlands, Nepal, and Sri Lanka

South Africa have qualified for the Super Eights with three wins in as many matches and Bangladesh are the next best team to qualify. If they beat Netherlands and Nepal, they’ll progress to the Super Eights, and if they lose one and the Netherlands wins one, it will boil down to the Net Run Rate. Sri Lanka, with just one point, and with just one match remaining, are out of the tournament.