T20 World cup: No reserve day for India vs England, India to directly reach the finals if rain disrupts the match
South Africa have already secured their spot in the finals by thoroughly outclassing Afghanistan
As the entire T20 World Cup tournament has witnessed significant rain interruptions during matches, England will be the unluckiest team if rain spoils the second T20 World Cup semi-final scheduled in Guyana on Thursday at 8:00 PM IST. Unlike the first T20 World Cup semi-final between Afghanistan and South Africa, the ICC has not allocated a reserve day.
Decision on Reserve Day Sparks Controversy
Guyana, where the match is scheduled, has been experiencing a significant amount of rain over the past few days, raising concerns about its potential impact on the second semi-final between India and England. However, the ICC has announced that there will be no reserve day for the second semi-finals. India will advance directly to the finals due to their higher standing in the league games and the Super 8s.
This decision has sparked a mass outcry among the fans worldwide, the media houses are criticizing the decision. However, the ICC has remained firm in their stance. They have issued a clarification explaining their decision and why they cannot allocate a reserve day for this fixture.
An ICC spokesperson clarified the ICC’s decision stating that with only a day’s gap between the second semi-final in Guyana and the final in Barbados, the decision to not have a reserve day for the India-England game was made to ensure the second finalist has adequate time to rest and travel.
“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 10:30 am 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,” ESPNcricinfo cited the ICC spokesperson as saying.
The first semi-final was played in the evening at 8:30 PM local time (6 AM IST), while the second semi-final will start in the morning at 10:30 AM local time (8 PM IST).
The ICC spokesperson also said that the overs will start being reduced only at approximately 2.40 pm (12:10 AM IST): 250 minutes after the scheduled start time of 10.30 am.
The ICC spokesperson stated that if there is a rain delay, the overs will be reduced only after 2:40 PM local time (12:10 AM IST), which is 250 minutes after the scheduled start time of 10:30 AM.
South Africa has already secured their spot in the finals by thoroughly outclassing Afghanistan. It is worth noting that Afghanistan, who were the underdogs, reached the semi-finals for the first time, surpassing the tournament favorite Aussies.
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