Rain has delayed the start of the IPL 2026 game between Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians in Guwahati on Tuesday, April 7. Here’s looking at the cut-off time for a five-over match in the tournament.
A second consecutive IPL 2026 game has been affected by rain after the Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings matchup in Kolkata was washed out on Monday, April 6. KKR had played 3.4 overs in their innings after opting to bat before rain put a halt to the proceedings.
The weather cleared up close to the cut-off time and covers were removed at the Eden Gardens, but the groundsmen couldn’t get the field ready in the small period available for the game to restart, and it was called off close to 11pm IST.
Guwahati saw a torrential downpour on Tuesday evening, with steady rain following, to delay the toss for the RR vs MI game. Even if the rain relents, the ground staff will need some time to prepare the field for the match to start, and there could be a possible reduction of overs if the match does take place.
What do the IPL playing conditions state on the cut-off time for a five-over IPL match?
Now, as per the IPL playing conditions, “net playing time available at the start of the match (excluding time-outs)” is 170 minutes. The interval between the two innings shall be 20 minutes, and a minimum of 10 minutes for delayed or rain-truncated games. Adding the allotted five minutes each worth of time-outs across the two innings, a match’s run-time is expected to be around 190 to 200 minutes.
Therefore, with a start time of 7.30pm IST for evening matches, they are expected to conclude by 10.50pm IST. However, if the start of play is delayed or play is suspended for any reason, then extra time of up to sixty minutes shall be available for each IPL regular season match.
This means that the cut-off time for a five-over game to end, the minimum number of overs that should be bowled per innings to constitute a T20 game, after adding the allotted extra time of an hour, would be approximately between 11.40 to 11.50pm IST. The start time should thus be around 10.55pm IST.
For the playoffs and final, a 120-minute extra time is available if the start of the match is delayed, which makes the cut-off time for a five-over playoff or final at around 12.40 to 12.50am IST on the next day.
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