During the 30th match of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2022 at the Perth Stadium, South Africa have defeated India by 5 wickets to nearly book their place in the semi-final stage of the mega event.
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En route the modest target of 134 runs, the South African line-up, akin India’s were rattled by a lovely exhibition of seam bowling by Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3.4-0-21-0) and Arshdeep Singh (4-0-25-2), with the latter removing the in-form batters in Quinton de Kock (1 off 3) and Rilee Rossouw (0 off 2) during the second Over of the chase.
With Mohammed Shami getting rid of the ever struggling Temba Bavuma (10 off 15) as well, the Proteas scorecard read mere 40/3 after the 10-Over mark.
With the pitch still conducive enough for pace bowling, the experienced pair of Aiden Markram (52 off 41) and David Miller (59* off 46) made sure they did not rush through with the proceedings, and took their team to safe waters with their fourth wicket partnership of 76 runs off 60 deliveries.
Having said that, team India did provide a couple of reprieves during the 12th and then the 13th Over as well, when Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma missed out on relatively easy caught and run-out opportunity respectively, with Markram on the receiving end on both the instances.
Is India out of T20 World Cup
Having been handed their first loss in the ongoing T20 World Cup, team India have now slipped down to the second spot in the ‘Super 12 Group 2’ points table.
However, the door towards the semi-final stage is not closed for them as yet, as a wins in the next couple of matches against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe will book their place in their final four.
In case they lose one of the next two matches, it will all boil down to the Net Run Rate (NRR) game.
Having said that, with India scheduled to play their final match of this stage right in the end (on the last day of the ‘Super 12’ stage), they will have the exact requirements in terms of NRR to qualify through to the semis.
UPDATE: India have been eliminated from T20 World Cup 2022 after losing the semi-final to England in Adelaide tonight.
