ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2020: What if both semi-finals get washed out?

The group stage of the ongoing Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia culminated on Tuesday with both the matches on the day getting washed out due to rain in Sydney. India and Australia from group A and South Africa and England from group B made it to the knockouts of the competition. The semi-finals are now set to be played on March 5 at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). While the Women in Blue will face England in the first semi-final, the defending champions Aussies will be challenged by South Africa in the other.

However, the weather in Sydney is not promising over the next couple of days and it seems that rain will have the final say even in the knockout stages. On Tuesday, only Thailand Women could complete their innings against Pakistan and since then the rain arrived to abandon the game even as the game between South Africa and West Indies didn’t take place.

As of now, there is every possibility that both the semi-finals will get washed out due to rain. And only the final scheduled to play on Sunday at the MCG is having a reserve day. This has led to confusion over who will make it to the final in case the semis don’t happen at all due to rain.

India and South Africa will qualify for the final in that case as both these teams topped their respective groups with 8 and 7 points to their name respectively.

10-overs per side mandatory to constitute a game

Generally, for a T20 International, five overs per side are enough to constitute a game. However, the ICC has tweaked the rule for the knockouts of this tournament. For the result to be determined on the basis of the DLS method, both the teams should’ve batted 10 overs at least. If that is not the case, then the match will be called off and even then, India and South Africa will make it to the finals.

At the moment, Australia and England, who were the pre-tournament favourites, will have their fingers crossed and hoping that rain doesn’t spoil their party on Thursday.