Rain and a wet outfield sent the players off the field for 40 minutes during the second semi-final of the ICC World Cup 2023 between Australia and South Africa at the Eden Gardens on Thursday. It could well be the first of many such breaks as the weather office has predicted light to moderate rain with thunder in Kolkata and several other districts of West Bengal.
The sky will remain cloudy in Kolkata and rain or thundershowers are likely to occur towards afternoon or evening on Thursday, the Met office announced at a press conference around 12.30pm. Rain is also expected in North and South 24-Parganas, East and West Midnapore, Howrah, and Hooghly districts.
The “deep depression” over west-central Bay of Bengal has moved north-northeast at a speed of 17kmph in the past six hours on Thursday, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). It earlier lay centred over west-central Bay of Bengal near latitude 17.4°N and longitude 87.0°E, about 390km east-southeast of Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), 320km south-southeast of Paradip (Odisha), 460km south-southwest of Digha (West Bengal) and 610km south-southwest of Khepupara (Bangladesh).
The depression is likely to further intensify into a cyclonic storm during the next 24 hours and cross Bangladesh coast between Mongla and Khepupara with wind speed of 60-70kmph gusting to 80kmph by the early hours of November 18.
If rain interferes with play, the number of overs may be truncated for both sides. The umpires are going to make every effort to play at least 20 overs per side today, which will be enough for a result to be considered legitimate. If that is not possible, the umpires may decide to shift Thursday’s match to a reserve day, which is tomorrow (November 17).
If rain interferes with play but not enough to go to a reserve day, the advantage is usually with the team chasing (in this case Australia) as it gives them a clear picture of a revised target in reduced overs, but with the same number of wickets (10) at their disposal. In the worst case scenario, where rain makes cricket impossible today as well as tomorrow and not enough overs are bowled for a match to be legitimate, South Africa will go through to the World Cup final in Ahmedabad to take on India by virtue of finishing higher than Australia (on net run rate) in the league stage.