The rain playing spoilsport is no news this year in the IPL. With three games having been called off and ruled washed out due to rain, and with Chennai poised to expect light rains in the upcoming days, what shall be done if the Qualifier 2 between SRH and RR, set to happen on Friday, also gets washed out?
According to reports from the Regional Meteorological Department (RMD), the host city of Chennai is expected to receive light rainfall over the course of the next three days. So, the chances of rain playing spoilsport during both the Qualifier 2 and the Final is low, but not zero.
Now, we all remember the IPL 2023 Finals in Ahmedabad last year being hit with rain, and in that case, a reserve day was planned in order to play out the finale between CSK and GT.
But, the most notable thing to keep in mind with respect to the Qualifiers in IPL Playoffs is that they do not have any reserve days planned in advance for the same, meaning that a result shall be deduced no matter what.
The rule set in place to decide who shall be deemed the winner in case of the Qualifier being washed out is that the team with the most points in the IPL points table shall be deemed victorious and shall qualify for the IPL Final.
This means that in our case now, the automatic winner, if the game is washed out, shall be SRH, who finished the group stage with 17 points, the same as RR who also claimed the same number of points.
But, due to their better Net Run Rate, SRH’s being +0.414 and RR’s being +0.273, Sunrisers Hyderabad will be deemed as the automatic winner and will once again be poised to take on KKR in a rematch of the Qualifier 1, during the final as well.
This will come as welcome news for SRH, who were demolished by KKR in the Qualifier by the Shreyas Iyer-led side, as the Men in Orange faced a debilitating 8-wicket loss.
But, it is bound to disappoint and ruffle some feathers in the ranks of Rajasthan Royals, who suffered 4 losses and a washed out game nearing the end of their group stage campaign.
(With inputs from agencies)
