World Cup 2023: Are England officially knocked out? Updated semi-final scenarios after defeat against India

India and England remain at the opposite ends of the 2023 ICC World Cup points table after Sunday’s encounter between the two heavyweight teams at Lucknow’s Ekana Cricket Stadium.

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The Men in Blue would maintain their dominance in their home World Cup, facing the challenge of setting a target for the first time. They would stamp their authority on the Jos Buttler-led side despite coming up with a total that appeared 15-20 runs short initially.

Led by sensational spells from Mohammed Shami (4/22) and Jasprit Bumrah (3/32), India would dish out one of their most destructive bowling performances, one that blew England away and resulted in them getting bundled out for a paltry 129.

It was every bit a collective performance from the bowling unit, even if the pacers got the lion’s share of wickets, as left-arm spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja did their part in maintaining a stranglehold on the the Englishmen in the middle overs.

India had restricted Australia and Pakistan to sub-200 totals earlier in the tournament, but on a two-paced Lucknow wicket that was difficult to bat on, they barely let the beleaguered defending champions cross the 100-mark.

India collected their sixth victory as a result of their dominant performance, and condemned England to their fifth defeat in six outings. The Men in the lighter shade of blue are almost through to the semi-finals as a result of the victory.  Buttler and Co’s title defence and their hopes of becoming only the third team to win back-to-back World Cups after West Indies and Australia appears good as over.

But none of that is official just as yet. Here’s a detailed look at the semi-final qualification scenarios after Sunday’s fixture at Lucknow’s Ekana Stadium:

England: The defending champions lie at the very bottom of the 10-team table, and currently are competing with fellow strugglers Bangladesh for the side that becomes the first to officially get knocked out.

Both England and Bangladesh, however, are mathematically still alive in the tournament even if their chances of finishing in the top four are about the same as a tailender surpassing Rohit Sharma’s 264 for the highest individual score in ODIs.

England currently have two points to their name, courtesy their 137-run thrashing of Bangladesh in Dharamsala, and can get to a maximum of eight points should they win each of their three remaining games.

However, they’ll also have to hope that one of New Zealand and Australia, or both for that matter, remain stuck on eight points, at which point Net Run Rate will come into play, thus making it necessary for the Englishmen to win by big margins.

India: The Men in Blue’s place in the top four isn’t mathematically confirmed either, although the possibility of them failing to qualify for the knockouts after winning six in six are about the same as England and Bangladesh making the semis.

The only way India can get eliminated is if they end up losing each of their three remaining games by big margins, the trio of South Africa, New Zealand or Australia are either level on points or ahead of them and one of Sri Lanka or Afghanistan wins each of their remaining matches by sizeable margins to go level with India on 12 points.