It is no secret that the tournament has taken a sharp turn so far, With the West Indies defeating Bangladesh in Friday’s match, their hopes of regaining the semi-finals of the tournament were somewhat dashed. However, they will have to win both their upcoming matches against Sri Lanka and Australia.
Assuming West Indies finish on six points, here is how they can qualify without NRR coming into play:
– England must win at least two of their three remaining matches. That includes beating Australia, and winning at least one of their two remaining games, against Sri Lanka or South Africa.
– Australia to lose all three remaining matches. They already have four points, and from the West Indies’ point of view, they wouldn’t want any addition to that tally.
– Sri Lanka and South Africa to win no more than one of their two remaining matches.
Both teams currently have two points and play each other on Saturday. (South Africa won that match)
They also have games against England coming up, which means the team that wins on Saturday (South Africa) should lose to England.
– Bangladesh must beat Australia since Australia already have four. If they lose to South Africa, then South Africa must in turn lose to England so that they don’t move beyond four points.
If all of these happen, then West Indies can progress without run rates coming into play. To start with, though, they need to keep their end of the bargain and win their two remaining games – against Sri Lanka on November 4, and Australia on November 6. Given that five more Group 1 matches would have happened by the time they take the field again, they will have a pretty good idea of where they stand before their next game.