FRONT PAGE | Sunday, June 14, 2009 | Email | Print | 
How India can get into semis
Meenakshi Rao | Lord’s
Now that Team India has managed to put a billion hearts in the mouth, by losing to West Indies in what should have been their best chance to reach semifinals, permutations and combinations are in the hyper round of work to see what is the best way for India to get through, even in the worst-case scenario. Here are some of the best and worst ones:
Scenario 1: The sureshot way of going in the semifinals would, of course, be to beat both England and South Africa, a thought that is being peddled by Dhoni to pep up the positives his team mates desperately need before going in for the kill. India play England on Sunday and would be going into the match with a good record against the hosts who have been struggling not just with Kevin Peitersen’s Achilles heel but also their own see-saw performance in this campaign. This would be the second match between the two teams in Twenty-20 World Cup as well as in Twenty-20 international cricket. India recorded an 18-run victory over England when two teams met first time in a Twenty-20 international match in the first Twenty-20 World Cup at Durban on September 19, 2007. But the tough thing is to beat South Africa, a team which has not lost a single match till now, its latest victim being the West Indies.
Scenario 2: If South Africa win all their Super Eight matches to go through to the semis, then India still has an outside chance to go through even if it loses to the Proteas. But for that, it will first have to win against England and then wait for England to beat West Indies. If that happens then it will all veer around the run rate with three teams — England, West Indies and India — fighting for a second place in S8. However, if England loses to West Indies, India has no chance as Indies has already defeated it and will go through with two wins.
Scenario 3: Lose against England, lose against South Africa and take a plane back home. Dhoni however says this is not how it works with Team India when it gets into a situation — which is pretty often. “We perform the best when we are in a crunch situation and will do so again. It brings out the best in us,” he said after losing to West Indies.
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