India will play the second semi-final of the men’s T20 World Cup on June 27 in Providence, Guyana, if they qualify for the knockouts stage. The ICC’s playing conditions for the tournament, accessed by ESPNcricinfo, confirms this.
India have likely been allotted the Guyana semi-final because of the match timings.
The first semi-final in Tarouba, Trinidad, is a night game, set to be played from 8.30pm local time on June 26 – which in India is 6am on June 27. The Guyana semi-final, however, will start at 10.30am local time, which is a far more TV-friendly 8pm in India.
The final in Bridgetown, Barbados, is also a day game, starting 10am local time on June 29, or 7.30pm in India.
The playing conditions have also confirmed that there will be no reserve day for the second semi-final. Instead, there will be 250 minutes of extra time allotted to the match – rather than the 190 minutes allotted to the first semi-final and the final, which have reserve days – to try and ensure a finish in case there are weather interruptions.
This additional hour of extra time has been added on because the tournament schedule allows no time for a reserve day, with only a one-day gap between the second semi-final and the final.
The second semi-final could be in for a tight squeeze in case of persistent rain, particularly because in semi-finals and finals at ICC events, a decisive result can only be achieved if both teams have batted for at least ten overs each.
In most T20 games, the team batting second only has to bat for five overs for a result to be achieved in shortened games, and this remains the case for the majority of games at the T20 World Cup, except the three knock-out games. This was also the case for the semi-finals and final of the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia.
