IPL 2017 Final Mumbai Indians(MI) vs Rising Pune Supergiant(RPS): What happens if the match is rained out?

Who will come out on top tonight?

After 45 days of intense action, which saw eight teams battle it out for the coveted trophy, we are down to the final two. The Rising Pune Supergiant and the Mumbai Indians will battle it out in the final at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday, in what promises to be an absolutely cracking game.

The RPS led superbly by Steve Smith, have made a complete turnaround from last year, when they finished seventh and this year, find themselves within striking distance of lifting the title on Sunday.

On the other side, however, are the Mumbai Indians, a side, which has won the title twice already in their history under the leadership of Rohit Sharma and are looking to create history by becoming the first team to win the IPL on three occasions.

On the head-to-head front, it is the RPS who lead Mumbai 3-0 this season, but on a day like the final, such statistics count for little.

Even as the teams get ready for the big clash, the usual suspect of the weather playing spoilsport in the game looms large on most occasions, around this time of the year in India.

The weather for Sunday in Hyderabad is expected to be sunny with no rain forecast. But if the heavens do open up and the game is washed out, then the match will be played once again on Monday since a reserve day has been allotted for the final.

There wasn’t any reserve day allotted for either the Qualifiers or the Eliminator, and as a result, a situation arose in the game against the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Sunrisers Hyderabad on Wednesday, when one team was wishing for the rain to stop, since an abandonment would have knocked it out of the competition.

However, after a three-and-half- hour delay, the game began, with KKR needing to chase 48 runs in 6 overs for a win and despite an early stutter, they got home in the final over.

Post the game, Nathan Coulter-Nile was quite open in his views about the match finishing as late as that and later the Chairman of the IPL, Mr.Rajiv Shukla said that they would look into the issue in the upcoming editions.

Gautam Gambhir expressed his sympathy for SRH, for the manner in which they had to bow out of the competition.

Hopefully, such a scenario does not emerge in the final on Sunday and the large crowd, that is expected to pour in, will get to see a full 40-over game between two evenly matched sides.