T20 World Cup: Reserve day schedule raises concern over tight turnaround for Final

The ninth edition of the T20 World Cup's schedule got announced long back,on January 5, 2024, almost half a year prior to its commencement. However, the tournament's schedule in the US and the Caribbean have raised concerns regarding the tight timeframe between the semifinals and the final.

The two semifinals are slated for June 26 in Trinidad and June 27 in Guyana, followed by the final on June 29. Yet, there's a hitch: the team winning the second semi-final might find themselves playing critical knockout matches on back-to-back days, with less than 24 hours between the end of the first game and the start of the all-important final.

While it may be contended that such a situation is unlikely during the Caribbean's summer month of June, the reality remains that the International Cricket Council and Cricket West Indies have allocated reserve days. Therefore, there exists an attenuated possibility of an unusual occurrence. 

Timings aside, logistical bottlenecks are also a significant concern. The winner of the semi-final would be required to travel from the Providence Stadium in Guyana to the Kensington Oval in Barbados, which are 700-plus km apart from each other. 

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Most importantly, India's potential presence in the title clash could exacerbate the situation. There could arise an occurrence where India might have to play the semi-final on the 27th of June, of course, with the assumption that they make it through Group A as well as the Super-8. 

According to a March 15 media release siphoned by Cricbuzz, the ICC did verify the provision of reserve days for the last three matches of the 55-match tournament. 

"It was also confirmed during the meetings that ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 would have reserve days scheduled for the semi-finals and final," the ICC announced via a media release following a board meeting. 

Should such circumstances arise, the ICC could be required to postpone the final to its reserve days on June 30, for obvious reasons. However, the global governing body has not explicitly confirmed or elucidated upon this yet.

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Never has the second semi-final and the final been slotted so finely, with the most-recent examples being the Cricket World Cup 2023, and the 2022 and 2021 editions of the T20 World Cup all having one entire day between the reserve day for the match (had it been utilized) and the decider.