T20 World Cup 2024 Group A scenarios: How India, USA, Pakistan, Canada and Ireland can qualify for Super 8s?

India completed a hat-trick of victories
in the group stage of the ongoing T20 World Cup after handing co-hosts USA a seven-wicket defeat in their Group A clash in New York on Wednesday.

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Arshdeep Singh led the way for the Men in Blue with a career-best haul of 4/9, helping India restrict the Americans to 110/8 after opting to field. Suryakumar Yadav and Shivam Dube would then come to India’s rescue in their run chase after they were reduced to 39/3 at one stage, stitching an unbroken 72-run partnership for the fourth wicket to ensure India got home with seven wickets and 10 balls to spare.

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It wasn’t just supporters of the Indian and the American teams who followed the events of what was the final match of the tournament at the makeshift Nassau County International Stadium in Long Island, New York. Pakistan, who had finished runners-up in the previous edition, too kept an eye on this match as their chances of featuring in the Super 8s depended on this match.

With the 25th match of the 2024 T20 World Cup coming to an end, we take a look at the Super 8s qualification scenarios for Group A:

India

India became the first team from Group A and the third overall after South Africa and Australia to qualify for the T20 World Cup Super 8s following their seven-wicket defeat of USA with nearly two overs to spare. With their victory, the Men in Blue have effectively ensured they cannot fall outside the top two in their group regardless of the result of upcoming match against Canada in Florida.

USA

USA got their first taste of defeat in the ongoing T20 World Cup, which they’re co-hosting with West Indies, suffering a seven-wicket loss against India after beating Canada by a similar margin in the tournament opener in Dallas before pulling off a shock victory over Pakistan at the same venue.

USA are by no means eliminated from the race to the Super 8s after just one defeat, and currently find themselves ahead of Pakistan, Canada and Ireland with four points from three outings. A victory in their final match of the season, against Ireland on Friday, should be enough to help them finish at least second in Group A.

Pakistan

Pakistan found themselves at the brink of elimination after back-to-back defeats, against USA and India respectively, before their seven-wicket victory over Canada in New York gave the Babar Azam-led side a glimmer of hope.

Not only will the 2009 T20 world champions have to defeat Ireland in their remaning match on Sunday, they will also be hoping Ireland defeat USA before that game. That should have USA and Pakistan level on points, in which Net Run Rate will become a deciding factor.

Canada

Canada are level on two points with Pakistan, but have an NRR that is several notches below that of Pakistan. Which means not only will Canada have to defeat title favourites India in their remaining fixture in Florida on Saturday, but they will have to defeat them convincingly. And like Pakistan, hope neighbours USA end up losing their final game of the group stage against Ireland.

Ireland

So far, Ireland are the only team in Group A without a point to their name. They do, however, have two games in hand instead of one that is the case with every other team in their group. Which means the possibility of finishing the group stage with four points is still on the cards.

It’s not just the fact that they’ve suffered back-to-back defeats in the group stage that makes their progress unlikely — they also have a poor NRR of -1.712. Meaning they don’t just have to win their remaining games, they’ll have to win them big.