IPL 2022 | Playoffs guidelines: Super over to determine winner in case of disruption

The Gujarat Titans (GT) will face the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Qualifier 1 on May 24, Tuesday at Eden Gardens. The Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will face off in the Eliminator on Wednesday at the same venue.

There is concern that games may not be played as per schedule due to the bad weather forecast for the city. If any of the IPL playoff matches, including the final, are cancelled due to bad weather, a Super Over will be played to determine the winner. According to an IPL briefing note, if the ground conditions remain unplayable, the league stage rankings will determine the winners.

In the first three playoff matches, including Qualifier 2 on May 27 in Ahmedabad, the game can start as late as 9.40 pm without losing any overs. The playing conditions have been changed to allow for an extra two hours of match time over the stipulated 200 minutes. IPL Final can start as late as 10.10 pm without losing any overs. While the two strategic timeouts per innings will remain, the mid-match break will be halved with a delayed start.

The guidelines said, "the number of overs in the playoff match may, if necessary, be reduced so that each side has the opportunity to bat for five overs. There will be no timeouts for a five-overs-a-side game, with a cut-off start time of four minutes before midnight (11.56 pm), with a ten-minute innings break and a scheduled finish time of 12.50 am. Therefore, if the final is reduced to a five-overs-a-side match, it would need to begin by 12.26 am."

The IPL final will begin at 8 pm, half an hour later than the regular start time. If the final is disrupted and cannot be completed on that day for any reason, May 30 will be the reserve day. If one innings is completed but no play is available in the second, the DLS method will be used to determine the match result for the two Qualifiers and the Eliminator, which do not have reserve days.