T20 World Cup 2021: What India needs to do to qualify for semi-finals after win over Scotland?

File image of KL Rahul. (Source: Twitter)

After beating Afghanistan earlier, India thrashed Scotland by eight wickets to stay afloat in the tournament. 

India started off their campaign with two back to back losses against Pakistan and New Zealand respectively. All seemed lost for India before Wednesday when they came back to their best, smashing Afghanistan bowlers all round the park to register 210/2, the highest total so far in the tournament. 

In reply, Afghanistan could only manage 144 and lost the game by 66 runs. As a result, India's Net Run Rate (NRR) came into positive figures, giving them a thin chance to still make it to semis. 

On Friday, India displayed yet another dominating display as they outplayed Scotland in all departments. India won the toss and bundled out Scotland for only 85. Then they chased down the target in only 6.3 over with eight wickets in hand. 

However, not to forget, New Zealand beat Namibia on the same day to clinch their third win of the Super 12s. 

Hence, the race for qualifications has intensified in this group. 

How can India qualify?

India's run rate has jumped from 0.073 to 1.619, which is better than New Zealand and Afghanistan at this moment.

For India to qualify, they will hope that New Zealand lose to Afghanistan and they beat Namibia by a huge margin on 8 November. Winning big matters as in this scenario, India, Afghanistan and New Zealand will all be at six points and the team with a better NRR will go through. So, if New Zealand lose to Afghanistan and India win big, their NRR should exceed that of Black Caps and Afghanistan.

So, in a nutshell, India need to ensure they beat Namibia with a good margin and hope Afghanistan beat New Zealand.