The International Cricket Council (ICC) and Cricket West Indies (CWI) have tweaked the playing conditions for the second semifinal of the upcoming Men’s T20 World Cup. The marquee event is slated to be held in the West Indies and USA from June 1 to June 29.
According to a report published in Cricbuzz, the co-host and the cricket’s governing body have allotted over four hours of additional time for the second semifinal, scheduled for June 27 in Guyana. It means there won’t be any reserve day for this game. This is being done to avoid scheduling clashes.
While the first semifinal is set to get underway at 8.30 pm local time on June 26 in Trinidad, the second one will take place a day later from 10.30 AM local time.
In case the rain washes away the second semifinal, the game will not be extended to a reserve day unlike the first semifinal. Instead, there will be an additional 250 minutes for the game to decide the second finalist.
As per new playing conditions for the second semifinal, June 28 will be the travel day for the team making it to the finals, scheduled for June 29 in Barbados.
In case of any adversary, India will be one of the teams to face the heat of the updated playing conditions. The Men in Blue are slotted with arch-rivals Pakistan, Canada and co-host USA in Group A. If qualified, India are in line to play in the second semifinal.
"All four teams have exactly the same opportunity to finish a game. 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 semifinal immediately post the game because the game is a 10.30 AM start, whilst the first semifinal is an evening start, which means it is not feasible to pay all additional time on the same day. This also ensures that fans in the stadium have the best chance of seeing a result on the day," Cricbuzz quoted a source as saying.
According to the rules for the Reserve-Day Playing Conditions:
13.6.1 All matches will consist of one inning per side, each inning being limited to a maximum of 20 overs. All matches shall be of one day's scheduled duration provided that participating countries in a series may agree to provide for a reserve day on which an incomplete match may be replayed or continued from the scheduled day.
13.6.2 If the match is to be continued on the reserve day, every effort shall be made to complete the match on the scheduled day with any necessary reduction in overs taking place and only if the minimum number of overs necessary to constitute a match cannot be bowled on the scheduled day will the match be completed on the reserve day.
13.6.3 If the match has started on the scheduled day and overs are subsequently reduced following an interruption, but no further play is possible, the match will resume on the reserve day under the same assumption that the last ball was played on the scheduled day.
The tie-break rules for the semifinals also make it quite complicated:
As per Clause 16.10.7 in the playing conditions:
a) If a semifinal is tied, the teams shall compete in a Super-Over to determine which team progresses to the Final. Refer to clause 16.3.1.2 and Appendix F.
b) If following a tie, weather conditions prevent the Super-Over from being completed, or if the match is abandoned or a no result, then the team that finished first in its Second Round Group will progress to the Final.
(With Cricbuzz Inputs)
