Pakistan defeated India by five wickets at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday. Mohammad Rizwan’s 71 and Mohammad Nawaz’s quickfire 42 guided helped the team chase a 182-run target with one ball to spare in the Super 4 stage of the Asia Cup 2022. 

With their first defeat of the tournament this year, India’s path to the final got a little tougher. Now, Rohit Sharma and co need to win both their remaining games – against Sri Lanka and Afghanistan – to make it to the finale. 

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How does the Super 4 system work? 

Many have confused the Super 4 format of the Asia Cup with semi-finals. The India vs Pakistan match on Sunday was not a knock out. As per ICC’s rules, a team needs to win as many games out of the three played  at the stage to make it to the final. 

The Super 4 teams consist of the ones who came first and second in the Group A and B in the round robin stage. 

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From the first group, India and Pakistan qualified for the Super 4 and from the other Sri Lanka and Afghanistan were the top two. 

“Instead of a normal semi-final phase, the teams progressing from the two groups play each other in another round robin phase. From there, the top two sides to go head-to-head in the tournament final. Points from the opening group stage do not carry over for the Super Four stage,” ICC explained the Super 4 stage on its website.

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It means, if we take one team, say India, then they will play Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Afghanistan once in this stage of the tournament. 

In case of a tie, in terms of wins, the net run rate will decide the finalists. India will have to defeat Afghanistan and Sri Lanka by big margins.