The ICC, at its annual Board meeting, came up with the reserve day schedule for the upcoming T20 World Cup in the USA & West Indies, starting in June. During the meeting, it was decided that there will be reserve days for the semis, and final.
In the group stage and Super Eights, a minimum of five overs have to be bowled to the team batting second to constitute a game, while in the knock-out stages, a minimum of ten overs will need to be bowled. That means, the June 9 clash between India and Pakistan in New York, won’t suffer at the hands of the weather, in case any disruptions happen.
Apart from that, at the meeting, the qualification process of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 was also discussed. The tournament will have 12 automatic qualifiers. Apart from hosts India and Sri Lanka, top eight teams will qualify automatically. The remaining spots will be filled by next highest ranked teams as on 30 June 2024.
Stop Clock Rule by ICC
Meanwhile, this is not the only rule that is being brought by the ICC. In a bid to avoid time-wasting tactics by teams, the ICC has come up with the stop clock rule in white-ball cricket, which will come into effect from the T20 World Cup. Here, the third umpire will start the 60-second timer as soon as the previous over is complete.
If the fielding side fails to bowl the first ball of the next over within this timeframe, they will receive warnings initially. However, any subsequent delays after the two warnings will result in a penalty of five runs being awarded to the batting team.
