The much-anticipated ICC T20 World Cup 2024 semifinal match between India and England has been halted again due to heavy rain after eight overs of India's innings. The match was initially delayed due to a wet outfield, but the rain gods had other plans. However, after a brief delay, the match restarted again.
India's batting woes continued as they lost two early wickets – Virat Kohli (9) and Rishabh Pant (4) – putting them under pressure. Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav steadied the innings, taking India to 65/2 before rain intervened.
Match Cancellation and Cut-off Time:
Since there's no reserve day for this crucial match, the ICC has allocated an extra 250 minutes of playing time. The match will only start losing overs after approximately 2:40 PM local time (12:10 AM IST). If it gets to that point, a 10-over-a-side game would be possible, with the cut-off time being around 4:14 PM local time (1:44 AM IST).
If the match is called off, India will advance to the final due to their superior group stage performance and England will be eliminated.
Earlier, England won the toss and elected to bowl first. Both the teams kept their playing XIs unchanged and played the same team which they fielded in their last match respectively.
After winning the toss, England skipper Jos Buttler said:
“We'll bowl first. Looks like a good surface, the bounce will be low, with the rain around, we thought it'll be a bit of an advantage to bowl first. We're up against a great team, but we're peaking nicely and we are playing the same team today. Looking forward to a great challenge against a top side. Excited to be in a semi-final, but some of us have been here before.”
Meanwhile, after losing the toss India captain Rohit Sharma said:
“We would batted first, the weather looks good, whatever had to happen, it has already happened. We wanted to put runs on the board. The pitch tends to get slower as the3 game goes on. We understand the challenge of playing a tournament like this, a lot of travel and logistics. It's a chance to play some good cricket. We don't want to think too far ahead, stay in the moment and let your game do the talking. Same team for us.”
India's Playing XI:
Rohit Sharma(c), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah
England's Playing XI
Philip Salt, Jos Buttler(w/c), Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley
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