Team India has played some mediocre cricket in their last two Women’s World Cup encounters, vs Australia and South Africa. And as a result, they are in a close fight with New Zealand for semis qualification. Australia, meanwhile have already qualified, South Africa are in comfortable second spot, with game left against Pakistan and Australia, and are more-or-less through.
Team India Likely to Benefit
England are third for now, but have looked quite solid and should go ahead; which leaves the fight between the hosts and New Zealand. And in that context, NZ vs PAK match in Colombo on Saturday is quite important for Harmanpreet Kaur‘s team. To put it straight, If the White Ferns lose, or if the match is washed out, NZ will suffer a major setback in the campaign, as they will have two tough matches against India & England.
| Pos | Team | P | W | L | N/R | NRR | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Australia | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | +1.818 | 9 |
| 2 | South Africa | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | -0.440 | 8 |
| 3 | England | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | +1.864 | 7 |
| 4 | India | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | +0.682 | 4 |
| 5 | New Zealand | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | -0.245 | 3 |
| 6 | Bangladesh | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | -0.263 | 2 |
| 7 |  Sri Lanka | 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 | -1.564 | 2 |
| 8 |  Pakistan | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | -1.887 | 1 |
NZ vs PAK, Colombo Weather
Let’s assume if the above scenario happens, then NZ will have to beat two tough sides and hope that IND loses to BAN as well. NRR will also be of a consideration, since they are at -0.245, still some distance away from the fourth-placed team. In other words, to be truly alive in the semis race, they will have to win against minnows Pakistan.
But then Colombo weather has been poor right from the very start of the tournament, witnessing a few washed out matches. Saturday too has a weather forecast of rains in the evening and night. As per AccuWeather, the city could witness rains of around 5.5 hours in all.
