India defeated Zimbabwe by 72 runs at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai to stay alive in the T20 World Cup. They will now face the West Indies on Sunday in a virtual quarterfinal at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata and the winner of that game will make it to the semifinals. With India’s win, Zimbabwe have been knocked out and South Africa have sealed their place in the knockouts with a game to go. However, what will happen if it rains in Kolkata on Sunday and the match is abandoned?
In this case, both India and the West Indies will get a point each and they will have 3 points to show after three matches in the Super 8 round. However, despite the 72-run win, India net run-rate is inferior to that of West Indies’ at the moment. West Indies had regsitered a massive 101-run win over Zimbabwe in their first Super 8 game and that boosted their net run-rate.ย
Despite the loss to South Africa by nine wickets, the Caribbean team still boasts of the NRR of 1.791. On the other hand, India’s net run-rate reads -0.1 which might end up hurting the hosts if the match gets washed out due to rain on Sunday. West Indies will qualify by virtue of the better NRR and India will get knocked out.
If this happens, India skipper Suryakumar Yadav will come under the scanner as he didn’t finish Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya’s spell against Zimbabwe. Instead, Shivam Dube bowled two overs and conceded a whopping 46 runs. If Bumrah and Hardik had bowled those two overs, India might have won by a margin of more than 100 runs and thereby would have placed better in terms of NRR.
How is Kolkata’s weather on Sunday?
For now though, the forecast is for sunny and clear weather in Kolkata on Sunday (March 1). The temperature will hover around 34 Degrees Celsius during the daytime, and it will go down to 25-26 Degrees Celsius by the time the match gets underway. There is no chance of rain whatsoever during the match that is set to get underway at 7 PM with toss taking place atย 6:30.
Also Read