Mohammad Rizwan played a match-winning inning of 71 runs as Pakistan beat India by five wickets in a final-over ‘Super 4’ contest in the T20 Asia Cup on Sunday. Chasing 182 for the win, Pakistan reached the target with one ball to spare, as Rizwan put on a crucial 73-run stand with Mohammad Nawaz, who scored 42 in 20 deliveries.
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Following the defeat against Pakistan on Sunday (September 4), the Men in Blue's remaining two matches, against Sri Lanka on September 6 and Afghanistan on September 8, have become must-wins. A defeat in either of those will all but kick India out of the tournament, especially if it comes against Sri Lanka on Tuesday (September 6).
Sri Lanka has already won one match in the Super 4, a win over India will make it two for them, and then India won’t be able to progress. So, for India, if they want to keep themselves alive then, primarily, they first have to win both the matches and then see net run rate (NRR) score if two or more teams finish at the same number of points, which is a genuine possibility.
However, if Sri Lanka and Pakistan win a total number of two matches each then the top two will be decided by the Net Run Rate. This means India has to win the next two matches with big margins to qualify.
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Schedule for remaining Super 4 matches
6th September: India vs Sri Lanka (Venue - Dubai)
7th September: Pakistan vs Afghanistan (Venue - Dubai)
8th September: India vs Afghanistan (Venue - Dubai)
9th September: Pakistan vs Sri Lanka (Venue - Dubai)
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