India vs New Zealand First Semi Final: Rain may play a spoilsport

India will play New Zealand in the first semifinal of the ICC Cricket World Cup under cloudy skies at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester on Tuesday. The forecast for match day is not a good news for fans with 60 per cent chance of rain in Manchester

But there is a provision of reserve days for knockout games. If rain plays spoilsport in match on Tuesday and the semifinal cannot be completed due to inclement weather, the match will resume on Wednesday (July 10). The match will not restart on the next day; it will continue from the same position it had stopped.

The forecast for the reserve day is not much bright either. The British Met department is predicting around 60 per cent chances of rain between 9 and 10 a.m. on the reserve day.

If the match gets washed out on both days, then India qualifies for the final on the basis of having more points (15) than New Zealand (11) in the group stage. It should be remembered that the league stage encounter between India and New Zealand was also washed out in Trent Bridge, Nottingham.

The expected maximum temperature for the day will be around 19-20 degrees in Manchester with 90 per cent cloud cover almost throughout the day. It will be good news for the New Zealand pace bowlers, who will be hope that the conditions will provide some assistance to them against the powerful Indian batting line-up.