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.

Guyana expecting some downpour when India take on England© X (Twitter)

Two-time champions West Indies were put under extreme pressure by a plucky Papua New Guinea unit before scraping through with a five-wicket win in their 2024 T20 World Cup opener here on Sunday. Left-hander Sese Bau (50 off 43) made a fine half-century to take PNG to 136 for eight after the associate nation lost their first four wickets for 50 runs. A power-packed West Indies should have chased down the below-par total comfortably but PNG made them work hard for the win despite their limitations.

PNG’s spinners as well medium pacers did not allow the hard-hitting West Indies batters to cut loose on a slow surface. The tournament co-hosts eventually got home in 19 overs thanks to rearguard action from Roston Chase (42 not out off 27 balls) and Andre Russell (15 off 9).

The West Indies’ innings was halted for 20 minutes due to rain but there was no loss of overs. The passing shower arrived with the home team at 8 for one in the second over and it would have been two down at the same score had right-arm pacer Alei Nao won a lbw review for the dangerous Nicholas Pooran.

After trapping Johnson Charles off his very first ball, Nao got another one to seam back in from short of length to leave Pooran stranded but luck was on the latter’s side. However, his scratchy effort ended when he was caught in the deep off left-arm spinner John Kariko.

PNG skipper Assad Vala made it 63 for three inside 10 overs when he deceived opener Brandon King (34) in flight and had him caught at deep midwicket. Nerves increased in the West Indies dressing room when it became 97 for five in 16 overs before Chase and Russell got hold of the proceedings.

After PNG were sent in to bat, Bau made instant impact on the big stage with his spirited effort.

PNG, playing their second T20 World Cup, were reeling at 50 for four before Bau shared a 44-run stand with Charles Amini (12) to save them the blushes.

Expecting the pitch to turn, the West Indies picked three spinners and put the opposition in after winning the toss.

The help for the spinners was visible as early as the first over bowled by Akeal Hosein.

However, it was pacer Romario Shepherd who picked the first wicket by having Tony Ura caught behind in the second over of the game. The ball seamed away, inducing a thick edge from the batter.

Hosein got rid of number three Lega Siaka with an arm ball before Alzarri Joseph sent back Vala (21 off 22 balls). Vala came up with a couple of crisp hits in the cover region before being caught brilliantly by Roston Chase at backward point.

Vala’s six over extra cover off spinner Chase in the previous over was one of the highlights of PNG’s innings.

Bau then ensured that the odd boundary kept coming as PNG tried to consolidate their innings.

Bau, a leftie like Vala, smashed left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie for a six and couple of fours to give the innings much needed momentum.

After his departure, the associate nation did rather well to get close to the 140-run mark. 

T20 World Cup co-hosts and two-time champions West Indies kicked off their campaign on Sunday against minnow Papua New Guinea at the Providence Stadium in Guyana. However, empty stands and lack of buzz was quite evident in the Group C opener. The seats inside the stadium were partially filled with most of the stands being empty and isolated. Reacting to the lack of buzz in the Caribbean nation, fans on social media labelled it as sad and disappointing.

Here’s how social media reacted:

Empty stands in Guyana.

Morning match with high ticketing prices have resulted in less crowds. pic.twitter.com/BbxegLme0m

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) June 2, 2024

The Empty stands at Guyana.

– This is sad to see Empty stadium for the Home team West Indies game in T20 World Cup. pic.twitter.com/MN9ot2TxJ7

— Tanuj Singh (@ImTanujSingh) June 2, 2024

These are empty stands in the West Indies and the home team is playing, and then people say everything is arranged as per Indian audience. pic.twitter.com/DDKadQPYj4

— Div(@div_yumm) June 2, 2024

The Empty stands at Guyana.

– This is sad to see Empty stadium for the Home team West Indies game in T20 World Cup. pic.twitter.com/fPsw63lGmB

— CRICKET FAN (@Rishi174911) June 2, 2024

Guyana empty stands.

A morning match with expensive tickets has drawn fewer spectators. pic.twitter.com/pjO7a0EVJs

— GS SPORTS (@Gssports25) June 2, 2024

There was also a turnout in the opening game between USA and Canada in Dallas. There are still tickets available for the highly expected India-Pakistan game on June 9 in New York, particularly for the Diamond Club, Corner Clubs, and Premium Club Lounge (North) sections.

One of the biggest reasons for this lack of buzz has been the pricing of the tickets.

“I don’t think there is enough buzz for the World Cup here as compared to India, because it hasn’t been marketed as much. I feel they could have done a lot more in terms of build-up. But I am hoping that as the tournament progresses, it will gain more interest. When you travel through areas or via airports, there’s not much buzz or hoardings.” said Prasanna Balakrishnan.

“When you go through an airport in a country hosting a major event like a World Cup, you get to see hoardings or other signs there for it. But I have seen from people travelling for the tournament through their X (formerly Twitter) posts that there hasn’t been much on this front,” he said. “Tournament promotions in the USA have been here and there. It has been decent, but not as much because other than the Asian population over here and in other places, I am not sure if it has reached much.”

“Time will tell about it as there are a few good games in Dallas, New York, and Florida, including matches of USA, Canada, and Nepal as well, and how they are received,” adds Prasanna, who will be present in the stadium to see all of India’s league matches in New York and Florida.

What has also been astonishing is a release from USA Cricket earlier this week saying fans can now secure tickets for the co-hosts’ three home matches (barring the one against India) at a remarkable 25% discount. The move hints at a lack of buzz for the tournament leading to empty seats in stadiums for the matches.

“When the first batch of ticket sales opened, they didn’t allow us to choose seats. Like, they allowed us to choose certain categories like standard, premium, VIP, etc. Only after that, they opened us few seats. We thought they were sold out but were not so.”

(With IANS Inputs)