Explained: How India can still qualify for Asia Cup final | Cricket News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: If the 5 wicket loss vs Pakistan hurt India’s chances of making the Asia Cup final, the 6 wicket shock loss against Sri Lanka on Tuesday took the Men in Blue to the verge of an early and rather embarrassing exit.
As things stand right now, India have played two and lost two in the Super 4s, with one match left to play.
This is what the Super 4s points table looks like:
Sri Lanka – 4 points after 2 matches
Pakistan – 2 points after 1 match
India – 0 points after 2 matches
Afghanistan – 0 points after 1 match
Sri Lanka, with 4 points and a NRR of +0.351 are sitting pretty on top of the pile. They have 1 match left to play, which is against Pakistan.
Now, there could be a scenario where three teams end up on 4 points each.
This can happen if –
1. Pakistan beat Sri Lanka and go to 4 points
2. Afghanistan beat Pakistan and go to 2 points
3. Afghanistan then beat India and go to 4 points
In this scenario, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Afghanistan will all be on 4 points and NRR will come into the picture to determine the two finalists. India though does not feature in this scenario.
The Lankans of course are in pole position as of now to make the cut for Sunday’s final.
India meanwhile currently have a slightly better net run rate than that of Afghanistan’s (-0.125 as compared to -0.589) with 0 points.
So can India still make the final? Yes they can. Though for that they will need a mini miracle and of course other results to go their way.

Here’s a quick look at what it has boiled down to for the defending Asia Cup champions:
1. India will first have to hope and pray that Afghanistan beat Pakistan in Sharjah on Wednesday. If Pakistan win, India will be automatically knocked out, because then two teams will be on 4 points (SL and Pak) and India can get to only a maximum of 2 points, since they have only one match left to play.
2. It won’t be done and dusted though even if Afghanistan do beat Pakistan. If that happens, India will then have to beat Afghanistan by a big margin on Thursday.
3. That will take India to 2 points and even that will not be enough. Even if Afghanistan beat Pakistan and lose to India, Rohit Sharma & co. will then have to hope that Pakistan lose to Sri Lanka in the last Super 4 match on Friday.
If the above 3 desired results do indeed go India’s way then – Sri Lanka will be on 6 points and will enter the final and India, Pakistan and Afghanistan will all be on 2 points and again NRR will decide the second finalist.
As things stand, it would really be wishful thinking to hope so many scenarios go India’s way.