Rain Threat Looms Over SA vs AUS Semi Final In Kolkata, Potential Washout Will Propel South Africa To Finals | Here Is Why

Cricket World Cup 2023: With the 2023 ICC World Cup reaching its pinnacle, South Africa and Australia find themselves teetering on the edge of uncertainty due to an impending clash not just against each other but also against the unpredictable weather in Kolkata.

Kolkata’s weather forecast indicates the likelihood of rain on Thursday and potentially later on Friday. For the South Africa vs Australia semi final match, Thursday (November 16) might experience afternoon showers with a 30% chance of rain according to Weather.com. However, Friday seems more promising with cloudy conditions and a lower chance of rainfall at 22%. Nonetheless, there's a possibility of showers later in the night, with a 40% chance of rain.

The rules laid out by the International Cricket Council (ICC) state that in the event of a washed-out match, the team placed higher in the group stage standings would progress to the final. Presently, South Africa holds the advantage in this scenario, comfortably securing the second spot while Australia lags behind in third.

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Notably, a minimum of 20 overs is necessary for the match to be valid, and if the game is interrupted, it resumes from where it left off on the first day, carrying over into the reserve day without starting anew. Should the match face abandonment on both scheduled days, South Africa, due to their higher group stage position, will clinch a historic opportunity to play in their first World Cup final.

The intrigue heightens as the Duckworth-Lewis method remains on standby, ready to decide the winner should the match be affected but not entirely washed out. This statistical method recalibrates the target score for the team batting second in case of a rain-affected encounter.

Australia, currently having a NRR of +0.861 needed a big victory against Bangladesh to surpass the healthy NRR of South Africa (+1.261). But, Bangladesh posted a total of 306 runs in the first innings, and Australia could not chase down the target within 20 overs. 

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India on the other hand is comfortably placed first in the points table. India will potentially face New Zealand in the first semi final at Wankhede stadium on November 15.