ICC Champions Trophy: Rain threatens India-Sri Lanka semifinal clash
An upbeat Sri Lanka take on high-flying India in the semifinal that could be affected by rain.
As India and Sri Lanka gear up to face off at the Sophia Gardens in Cardiff, Wales for the semifinals of the ICC Champions Trophy on Thursday, the threat of rain looms large over the marquee clash.
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According to BBC weather, a dry and bright start to the day is expected. However the rest of the day will be 'rather cloudy with showery outbreaks'. The forecast goes on the state that the rain may be heavy and prolonged at times, particularly in the afternoon.
In the event that weather conditions force the match to be declared a 'no-result', the group winners shall progress to the final. This would mean that India would progress to the final on account of topping group B, with six points from three games. Interestingly no 'reserve days' have been allocated for either semifinal. However there is a provision for a Super-Over if the match were to end in a tie.
After a dry first few days, the second week of the Champions Trophy has been affected by rain. The seventh match of the tournament - Australia vs New Zealand was abandoned during the second innings. The sharing of points was beneficial to neither, as both the sides did not make the semifinals.
South Africa sneaked a tie - and gained a valuable point - at Cardiff last week when rain forced the game to end with the West Indies on the exact Duckworth-Lewis par score of 190-6 in 26.1 overs. This meant that the Proteas progressed to the semifinals at the expense of their opponents on account of a higher net run-rate.
However the marquee India-Pakistan tie was the biggest damp-ner. After a delayed start, as many as four rain interruptions took the fizz out of an high-octane encounter.
In a winner-take-all penultimate group-phase encounter, New Zealand and England were forced to effectively play a Twenty20 (and a few) match, that resulted in the hosts entering the semifinals.
With the 8-nation tournament entering its latter stages, one can only hope that the rain stays away.