How can India qualify for T20 World Cup semi-final after South Africa beat Bangladesh?

2 min readUpdated: Jun 28, 2026 06:22 PM IST

T20 World Cup 2026: India's qualification depends on their result against Australia. (BCCI)

South Africa defeated Bangladesh by four wickets in the first match of the T20 World Cup double-header at Lord’s on Sunday, leaving India needing to beat Australia in the second game of the day to reach the semifinals.

Both teams entered the final round of Group A fixtures on six points from four matches, but India held the advantage with a net run rate of +2.268, compared to South Africa’s +0.734.

The Proteas chased down Bangladesh’s target of 118 with four balls to spare and moved to eight points and will now await the outcome of the India-Australia clash. They end their group stage with eight points in five matches, with a net run rate of +0.633.

FOLLOW LIVE: INDIA VS AUSTRALIA WOMEN’S T20 WORLD CUP 2026

A win for India will send them through to the semifinals alongside Australia. A defeat, however, will see South Africa join Australia as the two qualifiers from Group A.

Australia have lost just three of their last 27 matches across the previous five Women’s T20 World Cups, two of those defeats coming against India.

However, India have not beaten Australia in their last three Women’s T20 World Cup meetings, with their most recent victory over the six-time champions coming in the 2018 edition in the Caribbean. They did, however, defeat Australia in a bilateral T20I series earlier this year.

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India vice-captain and opening batter Smriti Mandhana said the team was looking forward to the challenge ahead.

“We all are really looking forward to it. A very important match for us, a must-win for us to go through. Having said that, we’ll stick with the processes. We’ll go out there, work hard, work really hard, and try and put up the best which we can do. And I’m sure it’s an important match and everyone is aware of that. But having said that, we have done well against them and we’ll take that confidence ahead,” Mandhana said at the pre-match press conference on Saturday.