The group stage of the World Cup has become quite interesting now, England versus Sri Lanka clash will be crucial: Nikhil Chopra

The ongoing T20 World Cup 2022 is reaching its business end with all the teams trying their level best to reach the semi-final. With only a handful of group stage matches remaining, teams in both groups are still fighting it out as not a single team has qualified for the knock-outs yet.

Meanwhile, the former Indian cricketer and expert Nikhil Chopra has said that the group stage of the T20 World Cup has become quite interesting as no one knows which team will finish on top or in second place in both groups. 

The match between England and Sri Lanka is going to be an important one: Nikhil Chopra 

"We don't even know which team is finishing on top or in the second spot in both groups. The encounter between England and Sri Lanka is going to be an important one. South Africa lost to Pakistan. So, the group stage of the competition has become very interesting," said Nikhil Chopra on BatBricks presents Run ki Runneeti only on Crictracker. 

Speaking about the qualifications scenario in Group 1, New Zealand have an edge with their better NRR, to qualify for the semi-finals. The equation is quite simple for them as a win against Ireland will almost guarantee them a semi-final berth irrespective of the margin of win. 

England are better placed than Australia currently as they have a positive NRR of 0.547. However, they play a tougher opposition in Sri Lanka as compared to New Zealand and Australia. England will also know the exact equation they need to qualify as they play a day after the other two games are played out. As far as Australia are concerned, they have to defeat Afghanistan by a big margin to improve their run rate as compared to England and edge past them in the points table.

In Group 2, the likes of South Africa and India have the best chance of qualifying for the next stage, but Bangladesh and Pakistan still hold an outside chance to reach the next stage of the T20 World Cup.