CNN Central News & Network-ITDC India Epress / ITDC News Bhopal: SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) will battle it out in Qualifier 2 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) with a place in the final on the line. While SRH lost to finalist Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Qualifier 1, RR defeated an unpredictable Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the Eliminator earlier this week. Since three IPL 2024 matches so far have been called off due to rain, the BCCI made all the necessary arrangements in case the weather plays spoilsport in Chennai on Friday.
Unlike last season when only the final had a reserve day, the organisers have added a reserve day for all the playoff matches including the Qualifier 2 between SRH and RR.
Last year, the final was completed on reserve day after rain played spoilsport on the scheduled day. The match, however, will begin from the start on reserve day even if it had begun on the scheduled day.
Keeping that in mind, extra time of up to 120 minutes will be provided over and above the cut-off time in order to make sure that the matches is completed on the scheduled day, if possible.
What if rain plays spoilsport on reserve day too?
If rain plays spoilsport again and Qualifier 2 is washed out on reserve day then the winner will be decided on the league positions of the two teams.
In that case, SRH will qualify for the final as they had finished second while RR were third. Both teams had 17 points each from 14 games but SRH had a NRR of +0.414 as compared to RR’s +0.273.
Weather forecast in Chennai
As per Accuweather, the chance of rain in Chennai on Friday is as low as 5%, with the same percentage going upto 10 on the reserve day.
So, it is highly unlikely that the rain could interrupt the proceedings of the Qualifier 2 clash between SRH and RR.
