T20 World Cup Final: What Will Happen If Rain Plays Spoil Sport In Pakistan vs England At MCG?

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A popular saying goes in sports 'Everyone's a winner'. However, this is exactly what will happen if Melbourne's spring rain interferes with the highly anticipated T20 World Cup 2022 final clash between Pakistan and England on November 13th. For the first time in the history of T20 World Cups, joint winners of the tournament may be announced. 

There's a likelihood of the play on Sunday of being washed out as the Bureau of Meteorology has forecasted possible heavy rainfalls, up to 25 mm of rain with chances of a thunderstorm. The forecast for the reserve day (November 14th, Monday) is slightly better with a 95% probability of rain and a chance of a thunderstorm. 

Last month, rain interfered in the blockbuster match between Australia and England at MCG, which was wiped out after MCG's famed draining capacity could not handle the 'big wet' month. 

According to the tournament's playing conditions, if the final is abandoned, no result is possible or a Super Over isn't completed after a tie, the teams will be declared 'Joint Winners'. 

Although it would be a hollow result, it's still better than declaring the team at the top in the Super 12 stage as the winner in case of semi-finals were washed out. 

Another set of rules states that the match can be reduced to a minimum of 10 overs per side, where the team batting second should play at least 10 overs in a rain-affected match to constitute a result. To be clear, completing a 10-over match on Sunday would be prioritized over having a full match on the reserve day. That means, getting the result on the original finals day would be prioritized. 

In a hypothetical scenario, if rain interferes on the first day and the game is revised to 10 overs a side, and a bowl is bowled on the same day before rain interferes again, the play on the next day will be played under the same revised conditions as the day before. If a single ball isn't bowled under revised conditions and play is abandoned for the day, a 20-over game would be played the next day. 

Even though it may seem counterintuitive to shorten the finals of a tournament even though there's a reserve day available, but the preference is given to obtaining the result on the day originally scheduled for the finals. 

“If the reserve day is allocated, every effort will be made to complete the match on the scheduled day with any necessary reduction in overs taking place and only if the minimum number of overs necessary to constitute a match cannot be bowled on the scheduled day will the match be completed on the reserve day,” the playing conditions say.

“If the match has started on the scheduled day and overs are subsequently reduced following an interruption, but no further play is possible, the match will resume on the reserve day at the point where the last ball was played.”

It is noteworthy that three matches have been washed out in this World Cup without a single ball being bowled, while three other matches have produced results through Duckworth/Lewis method. 

While talking about the joint winner, the 2002 Champions Trophy had two winners as Sri Lanka and India made it to the final in Colombo but the final wasn't completed in the two days allocated due to rain.