As fans all over the world wait eagerly for the World Cup semifinal match between India and New Zealand to resume on Wednesday, a weatherman in Tamil Nadu has predicted a clear day with the teams being able to complete a full match.
The Chennai-based independent weather blogger Pradeep John, who is known by the name ‘Tamil Nadu Weatherman’ on Facebook is known for his razor-sharp weather predictions. On Wednesday, he posted that the semifinal match between India and New Zealand in Manchester will go on uninterrupted on Wednesday.
“Today rain won’t affect the remaining part of the SF match and all full 50 overs will be played !!!!! Happy !!!,” he posted on his Facebook page.
His post assumes significance since rain played spoilsport in the first semifinal on Tuesday and there are predictions for more showers on Wednesday. The match was abandoned towards the end of the first innings, with New Zealand on 211 for 5 in 46.1 overs. Though it was hoped that the game would resume later on Tuesday, intermittent rain did not allow the players to come back on the field.
According to ICC rules, if a semifinal match is interrupted, it will be continued on the reserve day, which in the current case is Wednesday. The game will resume from where it was left off the previous day and there won’t be a fresh start. If the match gets abandoned on the reserve day as well, then the team which stands higher in the points table will move into the finals, as per the rules. This means that if the game gets called off on Wednesday, then India will go through to the finals of the tournament since they finished top of the league table.