ICC Champions Trophy 2017: Here's how the qualification scenario for semi-final stage looks like

Reuters

New Delhi: With the group stage of the ICC Champions Trophy nearing its end, there are still no visible favourites heading into the semi-final round. Apart from the host nation England, none have assured themselves with a ticket to the penultimate stage. With four out of seven matches being intervened by rain, the scenario stands as all seven teams battling it out in their final group match fixture for a semi-final berth.

Here is how the two groups look as of now...

Group A –

England is the first and the only team as of now to head into the next round. Winning both their matches so far, the host nation sit comfortably atop with four points.

New Zealand and Bangladesh will be seen battling it out at the Oval, today, for the ticket to the next round. However, they do have a condition applied. Only if England can defeat Australia in the final group-stage match, will today's winner be rest assured with three points. Twist in the tail – if rain manages to wash out the crucial encounter, Bangladesh hold the upper edge in terms of net run rate. But again, England would have to beat Australia by a huge margin.

With rain interrupting both their fixtures, Australia, will be aiming to clinch their first victory in this campaign against title-favourites England.

Group B –

Two clinical upsets in the last two fixtures have thrown Group B wide open. A rain-marred encounter between Pakistan and South Africa saw the latter stun the No.1 ODI side by 19 runs. On the other side, Angelo Mathews-led Sri Lankan side crumbled defending champions by seven wickets on Thursday. Both the matches have resulted in a tie among all four teams with just two points from two games each.

The remaining two games thus turn out to be virtual quarter-finals as the winner will head into the semi-final stage.

A tie or no result in both or either of the fixtures will leave the rest to the calculations based on net run rate.