Know what will happen to the 2023 Indian Premier League final, after Sunday’s play was cancelled due to heavy rain and the IPL reserve day rain rules
Owing to continuous downpour at the Narendra Modi Stadium, the 2023 Indian Premier League championship match between Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings has been postponed. The final will now be played on Monday, which was designated as the reserve day, as a result of this scenario.
IPL 2023 final reserve day rules explained and who wins the title if rain washes out the match
The #Final of the #TATAIPL 2023 has been moved to the reserve day on 29th May – 7:30 PM IST at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.
Physical tickets for today will be valid tomorrow. We request you to keep the tickets safe & intact. #CSKvGT pic.twitter.com/d3DrPVrIVD
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 28, 2023
Why 2023 Indian Premier League final has been postponed?
At the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, the weather played spoilsport the entire evening and hence, the 2023 Indian Premier League final featuring Chennai Super Kings vs. Gujarat Titans wasn’t played on Sunday. Around 11 PM IST, the umpires met with the captains and determined it would be best to move the game to Monday.
Just before the toss, it started to drizzle, so the ground crew quickly covered the center with two different layers of sheets and the areas where fast bowlers would run up. The supporters, who had crowded the stands to capacity, were eventually forced to seek shelter within the stands as the deluge intensified and was shortly accompanied by thunder and lightning. Large water puddles could also be observed right next to the center strip, which was still uncovered.
Who will lift the title if reserve day is also cancelled?
After the league phase, GT finished first in the standings and qualified for the playoff with 10 victories and 4 losses. However, Gujarat Titans failed to impress against Chennai Super King in Qualifier-1 before losing by 15-runs. Consequently, Gujarat had to face-off against Mumbai Indians in the Qualifier-2 and thanks to an explosive century by Gill, they advanced towards the championship game.
Meanwhile, Chennai finished the league stage in second-place to secure berth in Qualifier-1. With their statement victory against the defending champions, CSK qualified for the championship match. Since Sunday’s play was cancelled due to heavy rain, the final will be played on Monday with the winner set to lift the title.
In case of a rain delay, the match will start losing overs from 9:36 pm and from that time onwards, the match will keep getting shorter with the cut off time for a five-over match being 12:06 am (Tuesday).
In case of further rain delay, the tournament can be decided by super over and the rules explained – “For the Final, in the event that it is not possible to schedule a 5 over match to be completed by the end of the extra time on the reserve day, the teams will, if conditions permit, play a Super Over to determine the winner of the final.”
It is advantage Gujarat Titans if the final is completely abandoned as the defending champions will win the title because of their superior performance in the group stage in comparison to Chennai Super Kings. The rule says- “In the event that it is not possible to start the Super Over or to then complete the Super Over without interruption, the team that finished highest in the league table after the 70 matches of the regular season shall be declared the winner of the relevant playoff match or final.”