A brilliant hundred by Rohit Sharma – his fourth of the tournament – coupled with some fine bowling at the death by Jasprit Bumrah helped India to a 28-run win over Bangladesh in a hard-fought clash at Birmingham and with it secure a semi-final berth in the 2019 World Cup. Bangladesh knocked out of the tournament after the defeat on Tuesday.
India is the second team after Australia to qualify for the semis. It will be the 3rd successive semi-final appearance for India in World Cups. It's also the 7th time in 12 editions of the World Cup that India have reached the semis - 1983, 1987, 1996, 2003, 2011, 2015 being the other instances. Only Australia have played in more World Cup semi-finals.
Afghanistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Bangladesh are now officially out of the semifinal race.
Here are semifinal qualifying scenarios
New Zealand:
New Zealand have 11 points from 8 matches. New Zealand needs to win its final league match against England to be assured of qualification.
England:
England have 10 points from 8 matches. Despite three defeats, qualification for the top four remains in England's hands. The host side has one match left; if it wins it, it's assured of qualification. A Pakistan victory against Bangladesh will knock England out if England loses to New Zealand in its final match.
Pakistan:
Pakistan has 9 points from 8 matches after the three-wicket win over Afghanistan. It needs 11 points to get into the last-four. If it wins its final league match against Bangladesh, it will end on 11 points. If England does not beat New Zealand, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Co. can go through.
The four semifinalists will be decided on the basis of points. If teams are tied in the standings, the number of wins, net run rate and the head-to-head record will come into play in that order.
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