World Cup Qualification Scenarios - India's Defeat to England Throws Tournament Wide Open.

Pakistan's chances of qualifying to the semis took a massive hit after India faced their first defeat of the tournament at the hands of the hosts. The whole subcontinent along New Zealand would have been praying for India's win yesterday but that didn't happen as the hosts outplayed India on a batting friendly Birmingham pitch. As a result, Sri Lanka has been forced out of the World Cup and the chances of Pakistan and Bangladesh are looking very thin now.

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The return of Jason Roy proved to be a huge boon for England as he along with Bairstow put up an excellent partnership of 160 runs for the first wicket. They laid a strong foundation which meant that England was able to put up a good score of 337 runs in 50 overs.

India started badly as they lost Rahul very early and found it very difficult to keep the scoreboard moving. A strong partnership between the skipper, Kohli and Rohit Sharma brought India back in the game. But to everybody's surprise, Dhoni and Kedhar Jhadav played very strange innings when India needed 13 runs per over at the end. They were not looking to win the match, something which is really questionable.

Let's have a look at the qualification scenarios:

1. Australia: Already qualified.

2. India: India would have qualified had they defeated England yesterday, they would have taken New Zealand with them also and Pakistan would have just needed a win over Bangladesh to qualify but that was not to be. India is sitting at number 2 spot with two matches to play. They just need to win one of the remaining two to qualify. Even if they don't win, they will still have a good chance of qualifying on the basis of net run rate.

3. New Zealand: After two consecutive defeats at the hands of Pakistan and their rivals Australia, the black caps now face a must-win situation. They will face the hosts on the 3rd of July. New Zealand can still make it to the semis if they lose to England by a margin of less than 200 runs.

4. England: The favorites to lift the World have been struggling to make to the semis. They found some form when they defeated India yesterday. They now have to face New Zealand and if they win, they will go through. If they lose to New Zealand, they will hope Pakistan loses to Bangladesh and Bangladesh loses against India. However, they will be more keen on keeping it simple and winning against New Zealand.

5. Pakistan: They face a must-win situation against Bangladesh and at the same time, they will hope that New Zealand defeats England. If England manages to win against New Zealand, Pakistan will be knocked out because of the poor net run rate.

6. Bangladesh: They have a tough task at their hands as they have to defeat both Pakistan and India which looks very difficult. Two wins won't be enough for Bangladesh as they will also have to hope that New Zealand defeats England.

Sri Lanka, South Africa, West Indies, and Afghanistan have already been knocked out of the tournament.