Just two days after delaying the toss in Qualifier 2, heavy rain made its way back to the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad and this time forced the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) final between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Gujarat Titans (GT) to get postponed to a reserve day.
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The heavens opened up in the build-up to the highly-anticipated showdown between the two teams that had earlier met in the tournament opener on 31 March at the same venue.
Not only would it force the closing ceremony to get postponed, it would also ensure the two captains, CSK’s MS Dhoni and GT’s Hardik Pandya, would not get to step out for the toss at all as rain played hide-and-seek all evening and gained intensity shortly after 9.35 pm IST — the official cut-off time for a full 20-over contest between the two sides.
Read | CSK vs GT final becomes the first in IPL’s 16-year history to get postponed
While the cut-off time for a five-overs-a-side contest was 12.06 am the following day, it would have required the ground staff at the Narendra Modi Stadium an hour to get the outfield dried up and ready for the truncated game, meaning the rain had to subside by 11 pm latest for there to be any hope of the match going ahead.
“Conditions were quite good. Very surprised that even after three hours of rain, the ground will do very good. We were quite hopeful that we will have a game tonight, but unfortunately it rained again, so let’s see. We’ll try to push as far as possible tonight,” umpire Nitin Menon, who will be officiating in the final alongside Rod Tucker, told broadcasters Star Sports in a chat shortly before the official announcement.
Thanks to the provision of a reserve day, the two sides can battle it out in a full contest provided the fickle Ahmedabad weather doesn’t play spoilsport for a second day in a row.
The playing conditions remain the same for the reserve day as well. Should the rain gods decide to make a return on Monday evening and continue to delay the toss, the cut-off for a 20-overs-a-side contest will remain 9.35 pm.
If however, there’s no play possible on Monday either and the final gets completely washed out, then there are no extra reserve days in place and the contest will not be moved to Tuesday.
And contrary to some reports suggesting the trophy could be shared between CSK and GT, the IPL playing conditions state that the team that finished higher on the points table at the end of the league stage will get their hands on the silverware, meaning the Hardik Pandya-led Titans will win the title for a second time in as many appearances since making their debut last season.
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