T20 World Cup 2022: What Sri Lanka & West Indies need to do to qualify for Super 12 stage

Sri Lanka and West Indies suffered crushing defeats at the hands of Associate nations, Namibia and Scotland, in their respective opening matches of Round 1 of the ongoing ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022. While Sri Lanka went down by 55 runs against Namibia on Sunday, West Indies lost to Scotland by 42 runs on Monday. This has jeopardised the road to qualification for both Sri Lanka and West Indies. Here we will discuss how Sri Lanka and West Indies can still qualify for the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup. 

How can Sri Lanka and West Indies qualify despite defeats to Namibia and Scotland

Sri Lanka will have to beat the United Arab Emirates and the Netherlands in their remaining qualifier matches of the T20 World Cup in order to make it to the Super 12 stage. West Indies will also have to win both their remaining games of the qualifier round to qualify for the main event of the World Cup. West Indies will play against Zimbabwe and Ireland in their next two matches.

If Sri Lanka and West Indies manage to win their remaining matches without Namibia and Scotland losing a single game in Round 1, they will finish second in their respective groups. Whereas, if Namibia and Scotland fail to win even a single game in the qualifying round, there are chances that Sri Lanka and West Indies could go on top of the table in their respective groups. In either case, both Sri Lanka and West Indies will make it to the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup. 

ICC Men's T20 World Cup First Round: Updated points table

Group A

Group B

ICC Men's T20 World Cup: Qualification process for Super 12 stage

Each team will face the other three teams in their group once during the Round 1 matches. Two points will be awarded to the winning side for each victory, while each team will receive one point if the game is tied or called off due to bad weather. The top two teams from Groups A and B in the first round's points table will advance to the Super 12 stage, where they will join the other eight teams that have already earned direct qualification for the main event. 

The team that will finish on top of Group A will join Australia, England, New Zealand, and Afghanistan in Group 1 of the Super 12 stage, while the runner-up will join Group 2 which has India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and South Africa. On the other hand, the table-topper of Group B will move to Group 2 of the Super 12 stage, while the second-ranked team will join Group 1. 

Image: Twitter/ICC