Team India's Women's T20 World Cup 2024 qualification scenario explained© AFP
Team India's campaign in the Women's T20 World Cup 2024 suffered a significant blow as Harmanpreet Kaur and Co. lost their opening fixture against New Zealand. Though Team India bounced back with a victory against Pakistan in the second match, the semi-final qualification from the group stage of the tournament is still quite tricky. As New Zealand take on Australia in the T20 World Cup match on Tuesday, the Indian team will be cheering for the White Ferns in order to boost their hopes of reaching the next round.
Even if India go on to win their remaining games in the Women's T20 World Cup group stage campaign, they aren't guaranteed to go through. The primary reason behind such an equation is the team's poor Net Run Rate of -1.217.
Australia and New Zealand are in top form in the tournament, with Net Run Rate of +1.908 and +2.900 respectively. With India already incurring a loss against the Kiwis, Harmanpreet Kaur's women will get a great boost if their first-match opponents go on to defeat the Aussies as well.
If New Zealand Beat Australia
Assuming New Zealand win their remaining matches, after beating Australia, they would top the group with 4 wins in 4 matches and qualify for the knockouts. With the Kiwis also beating Australia, India can qualify for the next round if they go on to beat the Aussies too.
In such a scenario, India would have 3 wins in 4 matches while Australia would have 2 wins in 4 matches (assuming both teams win their remaining matches).
If Australia Beat New Zealand
If Australia go on to beat New Zealand, India's chances of qualification would deal a big blow. Since the NRR of both Australia and New Zealand is better than India, Harmanpreet's side would need some upsets and significant results to qualify to the next round.
As far as head-to-head battle goes, New Zealand and Australia have squared off in 51 Women's T20Is since 2006. The White Ferns have won 21 times while the Aussies have secured wins 28 times in those matches.