The final Group A state of play: Antipodean dominance as India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka miss out

Six-time champions Australia were always favourites to win the group, and they showed their class to win it with maximum points.

But the White Ferns haven’t reached the knockout stage in the last three iterations of this competition, and are surprise qualifiers, beating out the world’s third-highest ranked team India, as well as Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Here’s how each team finished:

Group A

1. Australia (8 points | +2.223 NRR) - Qualified

Australia qualified for the semi-finals as group winners with four straight wins in Group A, wrapping up their place in Sunday’s win over India.

The injuries to captain Alyssa Healy and fast bowler Tayla Vlaeminck have been the only sour notes in an otherwise impressive campaign so far.

Vlaeminck has been ruled out of the remainder of the tournament, but Australia are still hopeful that Healy will recover in time to feature in the knockouts.

2. New Zealand (6 points | +0.879 NRR) – Qualified

New Zealand have pulled off something special in Group A, winning three of their four matches to qualify for the knockout stages of a Women’s T20 World Cup for the first time since 2016.

They deserve it too, not least for the impressive nature of their opening victory against India – a result that proved crucial in the final shakeup.

3. India (4 points | +0.322 NRR) – Eliminated

Defeats to New Zealand and Australia proved terminal to India’s hopes of reaching the semi-finals.

Harmanpreet Kaur and her side will look back at the opening loss against the White Ferns as the main factor in their undoing.

India came back well in the group and pushed the defending champions all the way in that final group match, but two defeats left them needing a big favour from Pakistan, one that did not transpire.

The quality of this group was always going to see a big team go out, but this remains a significant shock, being the first time in four editions that India have failed to reach the semi-finals.

4. Pakistan (2 points | -1.040 NRR) – Eliminated

Pakistan’s opening-day win over Sri Lanka blew this group wide open, but their tournament struggled to live up to those heady heights since.

The tempting net run rate scenario against New Zealand saw them come out so fast that it was boom or bust, and unfortunately for both Pakistan and India it turned out to be the latter.

There are plenty of positives for Pakistan though, not least the undoubted quality of young captain Fatima Sana, who has an extremely bright future.

5. Sri Lanka (0 points | -2.173 NRR) – Eliminated

Sri Lanka were one of the form teams coming into this tournament and had enjoyed victories against a host of higher-ranked nations in the last 18 months.

And so the failure to compete in Group A will be hugely frustrating for Chamari Athapaththu and her side.

Sri Lanka were the first team in the tournament to play all four of their matches, and they lost all four to end the World Cup with plenty of regrets.

All matches at the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024 are being held in the two host cities of Dubai and Sharjah.

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