No reserve day for 2nd T20 World Cup 2024 semi-final; extension of 4 hours on match day - Reports
A day after reports from Crizbuzz suggested that the International Cricket Council (ICC) and Cricket West Indies (CWI) were in a dilemma for scheduling a reserve day, considering the quick turnaround between the semi-final and final, the issue has been sorted.
According to a new Crizbuzz report, an additional time of 250 minutes (just over four hours) has been allotted on the same day for the second semi-final with no reserve day. The move helps avoid the situation of the second semi-final and the grand finale being played on back-to-back days.
Per the 2024 T20 World Cup schedule, the first semi-final will be played at 8.30 PM local time (6 AM IST on the following day) in Trinidad on June 26. Should there be any interruption due to showers or other reasons, a reserve day has been allocated on June 27.
However, the second semi-final will be played at 10.30 AM local time (8.30 PM IST) in Guyana on June 27, with only a one-day gap before the final on June 29. Thus, to avoid play in the second semi-final spilling over to a reserve day on June 28, the tournament organizers have extended the playing time on June 27 (Match Day) by 250 minutes, which makes it almost eight hours to finish the game.
A source told Cricbuzz:
"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 semi-final immediately post the game because the game is a 10.30 AM 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. This also ensures that fans in the stadium have the best chance of seeing a result on the day."
It is also worth noting that Team India will play in the second semi-final at Guyana should they qualify in the top four for scheduling purposes.
What happens if the 2024 T20 World Cup semi-finals are abandoned even with reserve day/extended time?
Despite the arrangements made for a result in both semi-final fixtures of the 2024 T20 World Cup, there is a possibility of a washout abandoning the game.
Should a result not be determined even on the reserve day for the first semi-final or the extended time for the second semi-final, the team that finished higher in the Super Eight stage will advance to the summit clash.
The 20 participating teams are split into four groups, with the top two from each advancing to the Super Eights. The Super Eights are also divided into two groups of four teams each, with the top two from each one qualifying for the semi-final.
The grand finale will be played at 10 AM local time (7.30 PM IST) in Barbados on June 29.