India beat Pakistan quite comprehensively to register their second consecutive win in the ongoing Women’s World Cup. Australia have begun well, while England too look the part as the tournament has started heating up and it remains to be seen which four teams will make it through to the knockouts?
The ongoing Women’s World Cup is starting to heat up as the teams get into their second and third games of the tournament. The start has been interesting where England completely bulldozed South Africa in the Proteas’ off-day in Guwahati, while Australia and India are also yet to lose, but both have had flawed games but the depth in their squads came through as they still managed to win their respective games, despite finding themselves in tough spot. On the other hand, New Zealand and South Africa, the other two contenders, are yet to open their account and will face off in a crunch encounter on Monday, October 6 in Indore.
Australia have had a washed out game, while India having faced slightly less tougher opponents in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, have won two in a row. It was England, who actually took everyone by surprise, coming into the tournament on the back of an inconsistent run, despite the change in leadership. And with the start they had, winning by 10 wickets after bowling South Africa out for just 69, England would fancy their chances to be four in four, given they take on Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in their next three games.
But will that be enough for England to qualify, even if they go on to lose to Australia, New Zealand and India? Each team plays seven games each in the round-robin stage of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup. Since there are eight teams in the competition, wins in more than 50 per cent of the games should be enough for them to start separating themselves from the sides below them.
However, in case a few teams get stuck on four wins, a fifth could be critical in case of one team running away with the tournament. Australia already have an odd point from the Colombo washout against Sri Lanka and even if they lose a couple of games, that one point might play a huge role in deciding where they finish off. Hence, there is a huge possibility of teams like India, New Zealand and South Africa achieving similar points and hence, net run rate and one big performance against the likes of Australia and England would be crucial for them to earn their right to be in the semi-finals.
The round-robin stage doesn’t allow any team to escape anyone and hence, each of the eight teams would be put through the same grind in order to get through to the final four and hence, closer to winning the trophy.
