INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Everybody now knows that net run rate is almost certain to be a huge factor in Group 1 of the ICC Men&s T20 World Cup 2022, but with two
must-win rounds of the tournament left it&s too early to focus on only that.England and Australia&s washout in Melbourne has left both teams
on three points and with all six teams in Group 1 still able to qualify.Results are still the most important thing, with all teams knowing
they will need to win each of their remaining two games to qualify for the next round
But one eye will have to be kept on the issue of the net run rate.The net run rate situationOf the teams who have played three games in
Group 1, it is England who have the superior NRR
But margins are small.England: +0.239The loss to Ireland and a tentative chase against Afghanistan has left England with a lower run rate
than they would have hoped for at this stage.Afghanistan: -0.620Two no-result games have left Afghanistan behind on points but still in with
an outside chance of qualifying if results go their way
A big win is needed though.Ireland: -1.169With fixtures against Australia and New Zealand to come, Ireland face a tricky task to reach the
And they&ll probably need a decent margin of victory in one of those games to overturn the damage of the nine-wicket loss to Sri
LankaAustralia: -1.555The hammering by New Zealand dented Australia&s NRR right from the off, but Marcus Stoinis& flurry against Sri Lanka
improved it a little.England&s qualification equationThis is a position neither side wanted to be in, with England arriving at this point
thanks partly to two games being impacted by rain.&Unfortunately we&ve had two games affected by weather,& England captain Jos Buttler said
after the points were shared against Australia following the shock loss to Ireland on DLS Method.&You don&t want to be involved in those
games, but it&s going to happen wherever you play, you&re generally going to be affected by some weather at some point.&It was put to
Buttler in his post-match media conference that the team&s next match against New Zealand is now effectively a World Cup Final for the
English.&We&d do well to live up to that one, wouldn&t it?& Buttler said, referring back to England&s 2019 triumph over New Zealand at
Lord&s.&For us, we knew, having lost the game against Ireland, the way the format is anyway, every game is pretty much a must-win.&If
England beat New Zealand in that &must-win& game, they will have the advantage of playing last in the final round of matches, meaning they
will know exactly what they need in terms of net run rate to qualify.&It could be a small advantage, but to make use of that, of course, we
need to win the game against New Zealand,& Buttler said, keen not to look too far ahead.&We&ll travel up to Brisbane, everyone&s rested and
There&s a lot of frustration as well from the last game
People want to right that performance
So we&ll train well and look forward to a tough challenge against New Zealand.&Australia look for big winsAustralia&s task is simple: win
twice and win big.Two large margins of victory against the two lowest-ranked teams in the group, Ireland and Afghanistan, could be enough in
themselves to send Australia through.But that fact won&t impact player selection, according to coach Andrew McDonald.&Net run rate is going
to come into it,& he said
&We knew that at the start of the tournament.&When you only play five games, net run rate can decide and influence who goes through into the
final four,& McDonald continued
&We feel as though we&ve been here before.&I don&t think it will shift team selection too much
We&ve picked a pretty powerful batting line-up, and we&ve got bowlers that we think in certain conditions against certain opposition can do
So we feel as though we&re pretty well covered for the options we have.&Even if Australia win their two remaining games heavily, that may
not be enough given England and Sri Lanka play last in this group, handing them a potential advantage
But that scenario is some way off still.&It depends on England and New Zealand really, doesn&t it?& McDonald said.AfghanistanAfghanistan&s
next match is on Tuesday, against Sri Lanka in Brisbane where they will be hoping for a resounding win after Friday&s disappointment & where
the match against Ireland was abandoned due to rain.For all the fun and excitement of this year&s T20 World Cup, fans in Afghanistan can
tune in to Ariana TV to watch the matches live.Click Here for the full broadcasting schedule The post How net run rate could decide fate of
teams in Group 1 of World Cup first appeared on Ariana News.
