ICC provides major update on revised conditions as rain threat looms over T20 World Cup final

The threat of rain looms overt the final of the 2022 T20 World Cup between Pakistan and England on Sunday.

While there is a reserve day available on Monday, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has said that it is trying to ensure that the match gets over on the originally scheduled day itself and has managed to secure a time extension at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), the venue for the title clash.

“Tournament officials have now been able to add an additional hour of extra time for play to be held at the MCG on Sunday night, meaning a total of 90 minutes is now available should any play be lost. That means play can continue up until midnight local time, should any additional extra time be required on Sunday,” said the ICC in a statement released early on Sunday. Players and officials were greeted with a beautiful sunny morning in Melbourne on Sunday , although clouds have slowly started rolling in ahead of the scheduled first ball at 7:00pm local time.

“The ability to finish the match on Monday’s reserve day (November 14 at 3:00pm AEDT) is still available to event organisers, although every effort will be made for the match to be completed on Sunday,” the ICC further said. The Australian meteorogical department’s report for Sunday was not a very promising one. As per the meteorology department, the weather forecast for Sunday doesn’t look promising and rain is likely to interrupt the proceedings.

“Cloudy. Very high (near 100%) chance of showers. The chance of a thunderstorm, possibly severe. Winds east to northeasterly 15 to 20 km/h turning northerly 25 to 35 km/h during the morning then decreasing to 15 to 20 km/h in the evening,” read an update on the official website of the meteorology department.

2009 champions Pakistan will take on England, the winners of 2010. Pakistan weren’t among the favourites for the trophy, and after the start they had incurred which included a shock defeat to lower-ranked Zimbabwe, they were written off. But they rose from the ashes to script four consecutive wins in a row, which included a victory over New Zealand in the semis, to make their first ever final at an ICC event in five years.

England too were stunned by Ireland in a rain-marred game before the relied ton net run rate to make it through to the semis where they demolished overwhelming favourites, India, by 10 wickets in Adelaide, to make their third T20 World Cup final.