ICC explains why India will play final if England semifinal washed out

Wherever cricket goes, rain follows. That seems to be the norm, at least in the T20 World Cup. Remember 2019 World Cup in England? The only other World Cup that was marred by rain? Well, five years later, the rain has arrived in the West Indies and has cast a shadow of uncertainty on the much-awaited India vs England semifinal. 

India have thus far escaped the threat of rain – first against Pakistan and then against Australia despite small drizzles. But the day of the second semi-final could mark India's first abandonment as heavy rainfall is expected in Guyana, a city where it's been pouring for the last four days.

If rain dampens the mood of cricket fans, there is good news and bad news. Good news is for India, who will book a direct entry into the final, while defending champions England will be left behind licking their wounds. Why? Because there is no reserve day in case of a washout tonight, it is another debatable call from the ICC, given both semifinals have been subjected to different rules. The first semifinal between Afghanistan and South Africa had the provision of a reserve day but not the second semis. While a lot has been spoken about the contrasting treatment, the ICC explained why it's so.

"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," an ICC spokesperson said.

There is only one day gap between the second semifinal and the final since as per local time, it's being played at 10:30 AM on the morning of June 27, and if reserve day comes into play, the qualifying team will be left with no time to practice. However, all possible attempts will be made to get an entire 40-overs game. A total of 250 minutes of extra time has been reserved for both semifinals to be completed on the same day. The first semi-final was done and dusted, where South Africa crushed Afghanistan by nine wickets to enter their maiden World Cup final. So it's all over to Guyana.

Once the 250-minute time period is breached, the game will start losing overs. This means that in India time, no overs will be lost until 11:30 PM. Depending on the scattering of rain, number of interruptions caused and time wasted, it could be trimmed down to a 20-over, 15-over or even a 10-over-per-side contest.

However, that's the least number of overs the semifinal needs to declare a winner. Unlike the league stage and Super Eight, where even a 5-over per contest could be played, a minimum of 10 overs are required for the game to take place. Anything less will lead to the abandonment of the match. And in that case, India will progress to face South Africa in the final as they finished top of their Super Eight group with 6 points.