World Cup qualification scenarios: No result games could haunt teams later; India’s task cut out

World Cup qualification scenarios: The equation is pretty straightforward for Harmanpreet's team, and further losses would hamper their chances.

Team India has done themselves no favours, by losing back-to-back matches in the Women’s World Cup, to South Africa and Australia, despite being in dominant positions. In the SA game, they were blown away by Nadine de Klerk alone, while against AUS, they could not defend 331, with skipper Alyssa Healy scoring 142.

As the situation stands, Harmanpreet Kaur‘s team is suffering on account of poor bowling, and the five-bowler theory. Both don’t seem to be working against top teams. Nonetheless, the tournament isn’t over for them, having played four matches. What has really spiced things up is some no result matches in Colombo. The latest addition to that was the England vs Pakistan game, in which the latter were on the verge of springing a surprise. Now, with four match done for each team, the World Cup points table looks quite balanced.

Women’s World Cup Points Table

Pos	Team	P	W	L	N/R	NRR	Pts
1	England	4	3	0	1	+1.864	7
2	Australia	4	3	0	0	+1.353	7
3	South Africa	4	3	1	0	-0.618	6
4	India	4	2	2	0	+0.682	4
5	New Zealand	4	1	2	1	-0.245	3
6	Bangladesh	4	1	3	0	-0.263	2
7	Sri Lanka	4	0	2	2	-1.526	2
8	Pakistan	4	0	3	1	-1.887	1

Matches Left for Team India

India has three matches left and play England after a long gap, on the 19th, followed by New Zealand encounter on 23rd, and the Bangladesh match on 26th. England has been in top form in the World Cup, and are yet to lose a match, while New Zealand are on a comeback trail, having won one from three.

Semis Qualification Scenarios for India

For starters, if India win all their matches, they would surely qualify for the next stage with 10 points. Losses for New Zealand and South Africa in between, will only help India’s chances. On the flipside, if Harman and Co. lose more than a match, they will certainly be thrown out of the home World Cup.

Things will get tricky if India wins two, and loses one. That would mean that they would end on 8 points, and that is when NRR would come into play. But having said that, things could just slightly ease out for India. That is because, New Zealand plays one match in Colombo, while South Africa plays two there.

So, if it’s a washout for either of the teams, even in one match, India will still have three games to play; that means a better chance of winning. India does not play at the venue any further. South Africa play on the 17th against SL, and there is 5.9mm rain predicted. The White Ferns play on 18th against Pakistan and there will be around 4.7mm of rain.

Then on 21st, there is more rain in the SA vs PAK match, and the rain could be 3.7mm. Just for the context, 3.6mm of rain was predicted in the ENG vs PAK match, which resulted in a washout. So, this could just help India.