T20 World Cup 2024: ICC Explains Reason Behind 'Different Rule' For India vs England Semifinal 2

Team India have a huge advantage if rain decides to wash-out the clash against England as they will automatically qualify for the final of the T20 World Cup 2024 where South Africa awaits in Barbados. The Proteas kept everything tight against Afghanistan which handed them a spot in the final, ICC even kept a reserve day for the first semifinal but that is not the case for the game in Guyana between Rohit Sharma's India and Jos Buttler's England.

If rain disrupts play, the consequences will be starkly different for India and England. England will be left to nurse their disappointments, while India, thanks to their superior standing in both the league and Super 8 phases, will secure a direct path to the final.

The ICC’s decision to implement different rules for the first and second semi-finals has sparked controversy in the media. In response, the governing body has issued a clarification. An ICC spokesperson explained that due to the mere one-day gap between the second semi-final in Guyana and the final in Barbados, it was decided not to have a reserve day for the India-England match. This ensures the second finalist has sufficient time to rest and travel.

"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 10.30am 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," ESPNcricinfo quoted the ICC spokesperson as saying.

It will be a battle of T20I titans as Men in Blue will be taking on England in the semifinals of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup at Guyana on Thursday, which will witness Jos Buttler-led England aim for second successive T20 WC final while Men in Blue will be aiming to avenge a brutal 10-wicket loss to the same opponent in the final four clash of 2022 tournament at Adelaide. (Rohit Sharma Opens Up On Only Tension Ahead Of IND vs ENG T20 World Cup 2024)

Since that heartbreaking loss at Adelaide, the Men in Blue have made a lot of changes to their white-ball game, introducing a pleothra of young and more explosive talent like Rinku Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, etc leading upto the tournament.

Though Men in Blue decided to revert back to experienced campaigners skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli after an incredible, record-shattering 50-over World Cup in India, the explosiveness and risk-taking defining the modern T20 cricket still form the heart of India's approach, as witnessed by the performances of these two legends in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, especially Virat, who turned into a six-hitting, spin-demolishing machine of the older days, abandoning his more conservative and measured approach to the short format.