History beckons Team India and New Zealand in Ahmedabad on Sunday as they gear up to lock horns in the T20 World Cup 2026 final.
No team has successfully defended the T20 World Cup title, and no host country has won the showpiece event. The Suryakumar Yadav-led side could achieve both if they beat New Zealand on Sunday. The Back Caps, on the other hand, have never won a men’s T20 World Cup, and their wait could end on Sunday.
The Men in Blue began their campaign with a 29-run win over USA, and followed it up with victories over Namibia, Pakistan and Netherlands, thus ending the group stage unbeaten.
However, they suffered a blip in their campaign after their 76-run loss to South Africa. They made a steady recovery as they defeated Zimbabwe and West Indies to reach the semi-finals. In the semi-finals at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium, India defeated England by seven runs.
This will be just India’s third match of the tournament in Ahmedabad, wherein they have a 50% record. The Men in Blue got the better of Netherlands by 17 runs in the group stage, but their heavy defeat to South Africa came at the Narendra Modi Stadium as well.
As per the weather forecast, there is absolutely no chance of rain predicted in Ahmedabad on Sunday. But, what if it does rain out of the blue? Who will be declared as winners? Let’s find out.
What if rain washes out T20 World Cup final
As per ICC’s rules for T20 internationals, a match is said to be complete if both teams bat a minimum of five overs. However, this is only in case of group stage and Super 8 matches. The number of overs get doubled to 10 per side for semi-finals and the final. This includes an extra time of 120 minutes on Sunday, even in the case of reduction of overs.
Should a 10-over match fail to go ahead on Sunday, then a reserve day on Monday (9 March) will come into effect. However, the match will not start from scratch on the reserve day, and will pick up from where the teams left off on Sunday.
For example, if India post 60/0 in six overs on Sunday, and rain washes out the day, then the match will resume on Monday right from that point. Should the toss take place on Sunday, but not a single ball is bowled, then the toss result and the playing XIs of both teams carry on to the reserve day on Monday.
Should no action take place on Sunday or on Monday due to rain, then India and New Zealand will be declared as joint winners of the T20 World Cup. There has been only one instance of joint-winners being declared in ICC tournaments.
This was in the 2002 Champions Trophy, when India and Sri Lanka were declared joint winners after Colombo witnessed two days of torrential rain.
