Defending champions Australia lock horns with Afghanistan in a must win contest in order to keep up in the race for the semi-finals of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022. Former India cricketer Wasim Jaffer is of the opinion that the hosts may win the Afghanistan contest but will not go through to the final four due to their net run rate.
The Aussies come into the match against Afghanistan as the favourites, putting their championship title on the line. However, Afghanistan have already been eliminated from the tournament as their campaign was hampered by the Australian weather conditions.
“In Group 1, because Australia is playing Afghanistan, they are more likely to win that contest and qualify. But then again, their net run rate has been very poor and if England win their fixture against Sri Lanka and if New Zealand wins their last game, the two go through. So, Australia might get knocked out. No host team has yet defended their title, so it appears that Australia will get knocked out of the tournament,” said Jaffer on 'BatBricks7 presents Run Ki Runneeti' on CricTracker.
Australia face tricky scenarios to qualify
Australia's stuggles began early on when they lost their opening match to New Zealand in the Super 12 stage where in the latter damaged their net run rate down to a negative 4.450. Australia, however, tried to make a comeback but since then have been unsuccessful in getting their net run rate back on track.
Standing third on the Group 1 table with five points along with England and New Zealand at the second and first place respectively, its all or nothing for the Aussies against Afghanistan. The side will need to win the fixture by a huge margin and hope for either of the Black Caps or the Three Lions to lose their final fixture. This would help them in progressing to the semi-finals of the marquee event.
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