Rain Pushes India-New Zealand World Cup Semi-Final To Reserve Day, Kiwis To Resume On 211/5 Today

Bad weather in Manchester pushed the first semifinal of the World Cup between India and New Zealand at the Old Trafford to the reserve day on Tuesday with the Kiwi scoreboard reading 211/5 after 46.1 overs, when rain stopped play.

New Zealand will resume their innings on Wednesday on the same score with 23 balls of their innings still remaining. Photo: BCCI, Twitter

MANCHESTAR: Bad weather in Manchester pushed the first semifinal of the World Cup between India and New Zealand at the Old Trafford to the reserve day on Tuesday with the Kiwi scoreboard reading 211/5 after 46.1 overs, when rain stopped play. New Zealand will resume their innings on Wednesday on the same score with 23 balls of their innings still remaining. Ross Taylor was unbeaten on 67 off 85 balls when the umpires decided the players needed to head back to the pavilion. Despite half-centuries from Taylor and skipper Kane Williamson (67 off 95 balls), the Black Caps could not force the pace against tournament's best bowling attack. By the time when the covers were off at 10pm IST, the outfield had too much water and there was no way match could have started. The day belonged to the Indian bowlers as skipper Virat Kohli found out that it was a good toss to lose. After a brilliant start by Jasprit Bumrah (1/25 in 8 overs) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/30 in 8.1 overs), Ravindra Jadeja (1/38 off 10 overs) and Hardik Pandya (1/55 in 10 overs) did well in the middle overs to keep the opposition under check. A fresh day will certainly be advantageous for India as it will be a continuation and not a restart. As per the rain rules of the International Cricket Council for the semifinals and the final, the umpires must try to complete the match on the scheduled match day by using the available extra time (120 minutes) and by reducing the number of overs down to a minimum of 20 overs per team in order to achieve a result. If there is still no result on the scheduled match day, play will continue on the reserve day, using the same start time and hours of play as the scheduled match day. The reserve day will be a continuation, not a restart. Any advantage earned on the scheduled day will be carried through to the reserve day. A tied match will use a super over to determine the winner. If the semifinal doesn't reach a result even after the scheduled day and the reserve day, the higher placed team from the league stage will progress to the final, which in this case will be India.