Rain threat looms over the second semi-final T20 World Cup, scheduled to be played between India and England at the Providence Stadium in Guyana. The weather forecast has cast doubts over the game with the capital of Guyana, Georgetown, experiencing heavy rain over the past few days. While there is an uncertainity in the air as far as the weather is concerned, fans have expressed their concern over ICC’s decision of not alotting a reserve day for the high-stakes clash.

Since there’s only a day’s gap between the India-England humdinger in Guyana and the final in Barbados, ICC clarified that the decision was taken keeping in mind that the players get some rest before the summit clash.

“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 from ICC had told ESPNcricinfo.

While there is no reserve day for the match, extra 250 minutes have been alotted to complete the match, if rain does show up.

Since it’s a day game as per local time (10:30 AM start), the cut off time for a 10-overs-a-side game is 1.44 am IST (4:14 AM local time).

Meanwhile, India will look to avenge the 10-wicket drubbing against the Jos Buttler-led side in the semifinal of the 2022 edition.

India have won every game they’ve been able to compete in, with the only dropped points coming from the abandoned fixture against Canada at a rain-soaked Lauderhill.

England, on the other hand, has had a hot-and-cold campaign, with impressive wins and unexpected losses, and has fought tooth and nail to qualify for the semifinals.

(With IANS Inputs)

IND vs ENG Live: Squads –

India: Rohit Sharma(c), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Sanju Samson, Mohammed Siraj, Yashasvi Jaiswal

England: Philip Salt, Jos Buttler(w/c), Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley, Mark Wood, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Tom Hartley

Will it rain or not? That has been the big question in the lead up to India’s T20 World Cup semi-final clash against England at the Providence Stadium in Guyana. The rain has cast a shadow of uncertainty on the much-awaited clash, which will be a repeat of the last T20 World Cup semi-final which was played in Adelaide, Australia. For both teams, the final destination is the same — a place in the summit clash against South Africa in Barbados.

The Proteas blew Afghanistan away in the first semi-final without any rain interruption, even though there was a reserve day for that game in Trinidad.

Is that the case for the second semi-final too? Not exactly. The ICC has not alotted a reserve day for the India-England semi-final. With the capital of Guyana, Georgtown, witnessing decent amount of rain over the past few days, there is a possibility that the same might happen during the day of the match.

If rain does spoil the stage, India and England will have contrasting moods. While England will be left behind licking their wounds, India will book a direct entry into the final, mainly because of their higher position in the league and Super 8 phase.

While the ICC’s decision of different rules for the first and the second semi-final has caused an outcry in the media, the apex body has issued a clarification on the same.

An ICC spokesperson has suggested that since there’s only a day’s gap between the second semi-final in Guyana and the final in Barbados, the decision to have no reserve day for the India-England game was taken so taken so that the second finalist gets enough 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 10.30am 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,” ESPNcricinfo quoted the ICC spokesperson as saying.

Not to forget, the semi-final was played in the evening (8:30 PM local time, 6 AM IST), the second semi-final will begin at 10:30 AM local time (8 PM IST).

The ICC spokesperson also said that the overs will start being reduced only at approximately 2.40pm (12:10 AM IST): 250 minutes after the scheduled start time of 10.30am.