Indian T20 League 2022: BCCI finds a new way to decide the winner of Playoffs in case of weather interruptions

The Indian T20 League 2022 is reaching its business end with the league stages being over and the knockouts about to start. Gujarat and Rajasthan are due to take on each other on the 24^th of May at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. But with heavy rain and thunderstorm over the last few days in the city and the weather forecast of the same in the next few, the fans must know what would happen in case of weather interruptions during the playoffs and the final of the tournament.

An Indian T20 League briefing note has confirmed that an allowance of extra two hours above the stipulated 200 minutes of match time has been added. Considering a late start, the two Qualifiers and the Eliminator can start as late as 9:40 PM, while the Final at Ahmedabad can start as late as 10:10 PM without any overs being deducted. In that case, the two strategic timeouts won’t be affected and only the mid-match break would be halved.

The guideline stated- “The number of overs in the playoff match may, if necessary, be reduced so that each side has the opportunity to bat for five overs.” There will be now strategic time-outs in case of five overs a side match and the cut-off time to start the matches will be 11:56 PM with a 10-minute innings break for the playoff matches. On the other hand, for the final, the cut-off time to start the match will be 12.26 PM.

“For the Eliminator and the Qualifier playoff matches, in the event that it is not possible to schedule a five-over match to complete by the end of the extra time on the original day, the teams will, if conditions permit, play a Super Over to determine the winner of the relevant Eliminator or Qualifier match,”- the guideline added. 12:50 PM is the latest these matches can start to incase they are decided by super over.

The guideline also stated the proceedings in case a super over is also not possible. In such a scenario- “The team that finished highest in the league table after the 70 matches of the regular season shall be declared the winner of the relevant play-off match or final.”

The Indian T20 League 2022 final is scheduled to start at 8:00 PM, which is half an hour later than the general scheduled time. The match is to take place on the 29^th of May and there is a reserve day for it, 30^th May. But in the case of the playoff matches, for which there is no reserve day, if one innings is complete but no play is possible in the second, the DLS method will come into the equation to determine the result of the match.

The authorities of the Indian T20 League also pointed out that if the Final starts on the original day but is not completed at the end of the day, then it will be finished on the reserve day. “The match will resume at the point where it stopped on the previous day. For the avoidance of doubt, any match recalculations done without the match actually restarting on the previous night will be ignored.”