There is no simple answer to this one except to show how the Mumbai Indians can qualify for the Champions League T20 2011 semi-finals and how they cannot.
The Mumbai Indians, who belong to the Group A in this year’s Champions League T20, are currently at five points from their four games. They have finished their league engagements and have to await for the other results to know their fate.
The games remaining in this Group A are between the Cobras and Trinidad and Tobago, and Chennai and New South Wales Blues. Cobras have three points, Trinidad and Tobago have two points, Chennai have two points and the Blues have four points from three matches each and these are going to be their last games.
Scenario 1: If Cobras beat TT and Chennai beat NSW Blues In this case, the Cobras will end on five, while Chennai and NSW will both have four points apiece, while TT end on two. With Mumbai Indians on five as well, they will go through to the semi-finals.
Scenario 2: If Cobras beat TT and NSW Blues beat Chennai In this case, Cobras will end on five, but the Blues will have six, with Chennai and Trinidad and Tobago on two each. The Blues will definitely make it to the semi-finals, but there will be a tie for the second place between Mumbai and the Cobras. With the Cobras having a far superior net run-rate than the Mumbai Indians, they would have edged Mumbai out of the tournament.
Scenario 3: If TT beat Cobras and Chennai beat NSW Blues In this case, Cobras will end on three, while Chennai, Trinidad and Tobago and the Blues will be tied on four apiece. So Mumbai Indians will go through at the top while one of the remaining three sides tied on four points will go through based on their net run-rate.
Scneario 4: If TT beat Cobras and NSW Blues beat Chennai In this case, Cobras will end on three, Chennai will have two, Trinidad and Tobago will have four while the Blues will top the group with six. This also means that with five points, Mumbai Indians will be the second team from the group to qualify for the semi-finals.
Essentially, the above scenarios show that Mumbai Indians do not have to await the last game’s result if Cobras lose their game to Trinidad and Tobago. However, if Cobras do beat the TT, they have to hope for the Super Kings to beat Blues, to make it to the semi-finals.