ICC Explains Different Rules for Semifinals: Why India Advances if England Match is Washed Out

Rain follows crickets wherever they go. At least during the T20 World Cup, that appears to be the standard. Recall the World Cup in England in 2019? Which previous World Cup was clouded over by precipitation? Five years later, the much-awaited India vs. England semifinal is under cloudy conditions due to the arrival of rain in the West Indies. Even with brief drizzles, India has so far avoided the threat of rain, first against Pakistan and then against Australia. In Guyana, where it has been pouring rain for the past four days, significant downpour is predicted on the day of the second semi-final, which may be India’s first abandonment.

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There’s good news and bad news if rain depresses cricket lovers. The good news is that India will go straight to the final, leaving the reigning champions England to lament their defeat. Why? Given that both semifinals have been subject to different regulations, it is another questionable decision from the ICC because there is no reserve day in the event of a washout tonight. There was a reserve day for the first semifinal between Afghanistan and South Africa, but not for the second. Although the disparate treatment has received a lot of attention, the ICC provided an explanation for why.

How Much Extra Time is Given for Play

“For performance reasons, to ensure teams do not have to ‘play-travel-play’ on consecutive days, the decision was taken to allocate the additional time for the second semi-final immediately post the game because the game is a 10.30am start, whilst the first semi-final is an evening start, which means it is not feasible to play all additional time on the same day,” a spokesperson for the ICC stated.

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Since the final is scheduled to begin at 10:30 AM local time on June 27th, there is only one day between the second semifinal and the final. In the event that reserve day is invoked, the qualifying team will not have any practice time. All efforts will be made, nonetheless, to obtain a full 40-overs match. Extra time of 250 minutes has been set aside so that both semifinals may be finished on the same day. After a comprehensive victory against Afghanistan by nine wickets in the first semi-final, South Africa advanced to their first World Cup final. It’s all over then, to Guyana.

The game will start losing overs when the allotted 250 minutes are up. This indicates that there would be no overs lost till 11:30 PM in India time. It might be reduced to a 20-over, 15-over, or even 10-over-per-side competition, depending on how much rain fell, how many interruptions were made, and how much time was lost.
But that’s the bare minimum of overs required in the semifinal to determine a champion. A minimum of 10 overs are needed for the game to start, in contrast to the league stage and Super Eight, where even a 5-over match might be played.