"You cannot do that rain!" - Nasser Hussain, somewhere probably.
India, led by Harmanpreet Kaur, reached a maiden women's Twenty20 World Cup final on Thursday after their clash with 2009 champions England at the Sydney Cricket Ground was washed out - much to the disappointment of the cricket fans.
It's worth noting that India finished top of Group A table in the group stages ahead of semis while England ranked two in Group B.
With no reserve day in place, the semi-final was abandoned and India advanced to the finals without a single ball being bowled in Sydney, sparking calls for change in ICC's rules.
Snapshot into the ICC meeting regarding the #T20WorldCup#SydneyRain #SAvAUS #INDvENG pic.twitter.com/TbhOglQawE— CricBlog (@cric_blog) March 5, 2020
Absolute disgrace that no reserve day was scheduled. These players work their whole careers for an opportunity like this... shocking @ECB_cricket @ICC https://t.co/eS8Pdww3LE— Charles (@charleyball) March 5, 2020
Our semi-final against India was abandoned without a ball being bowled. No reserve day, so India progress to the final.#T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/CmFa1cb0Bj— England's Barmy Army (@TheBarmyArmy) March 5, 2020
Can't believe England now out of the #T20WorldCup thanks to rain at the #SCG, with no reserve day allocated for the semi-finals. Means host nation Australia also face very real prospect of missing out on the final on a technicality. Imagine that, after the #FillTheMCG campaign!— Kate O'Halloran (@Kate_ohalloran) March 5, 2020
"A gutting way for our #T20WorldCup journey to end," tweeted the official Twitter account of England Cricket.
Match abandoned without a ball being bowled.A gutting way for our #T20WorldCup journey to end.#WeAreEngland pic.twitter.com/xXROAIU9j4— England Cricket (@englandcricket) March 5, 2020
A heartbreaking way to go out. We are so proud of this team ❤️ #WeAreEngland #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/Ks6qdv5BnO— England Cricket (@englandcricket) March 5, 2020
India's ace cricketer Mithali Raj took to Twitter to congratulate her side but also felt for the fate that was met with English girls.
"As an indian I am absolutely thrilled india has made it to the finals (sic)," Mithali wrote before adding, "I feel for the English girls . I’d never want to find myself or my team in that situation. But the rules are such and it is what it is."
As an indian I am absolutely thrilled india has made it to the finals . But as a cricketer I feel for the English girls . I’d never want to find myself or my team in that situation. But the rules are such and it is what it is. Congratulations girls.This is big. #INDvENG #T20WC— Mithali Raj (@M_Raj03) March 5, 2020
Similar sentiments were shared by Virender Sehwag and VVS Laxman.
Would have loved seeing the semi-finals but Indra Devta ke aage kaun jeet sakta hai. Mehnat ka parinaam achha milta hai. A reward for Winning all the matches in the group stage. Congratulations @BCCIWomen and wishing you glory this Sunday #T20WorldCup— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) March 5, 2020
Would have been great to see the match, but many congratulations to @BCCIWomen for making it to the finals of the #T20WorldCup . A reward for winning 4 out of 4 in the group stages. Wishing the girls the very best for the finals on #WomensDay— VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281) March 5, 2020
But Indian fans back home were thrilled. In fact, many of them drew parallels with England's semi-final Thursday "loss" to that of the much-debated victory of 2019 Cricket World Cup Finals.
In case you need a refresher, the final of the ICC World Cup 2019 went down in history as the first ODI match to be decided by a Super Over – despite the fact that both teams scored the same number of runs in their six balls.
England ended up lifting the Cricket World Cup trophy for the first time ever at Lord’s on Sunday thanks to the "Boundary count rule" and the home team having scored more boundaries during the course of the match.
In short...
#CWC19 final: England win by 0 runs#T20WorldCup semi-final: England lose by 0 runs. pic.twitter.com/zL4DZsci5K— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) March 5, 2020
Crickets fans turned up in numbers to remind just that.
England win by ICC rules and lose by ICC rules. #INDvENG Peeling sad😢 pic.twitter.com/uLOZX4EzY8— 🔫 (@imcharanro45) March 5, 2020
England won the #CWC19 on boundary count.England knocked out of #T20WorldCup due to rain.Life works in mysterious ways.— Nikhil (@CricCrazyNIKS) March 5, 2020
ENG miss out on making the WT20 World Cup final after the game is washed outThey did score 72 boundaries in the group stage - the most by any team #T20WorldCup #INDvENG— Swamp (@sirswampthing) March 5, 2020
England players Right now 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂#INDvENG #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/Mqu9XeGvL9— Not Bad 😎 (@CvaKadaikutty) March 5, 2020
#INDvENGThis is pretty much what you can expect when the God is not on your side. Well played @BCCI 👏👏#NotCricket 👎#Cricket pic.twitter.com/D4E5OYV3Rj— Not Daniel Alexander (@Daniel86criket) March 5, 2020
India have qualified for the#T20WorldCup finals England condition now pic.twitter.com/o0UYtBJuPF— மனிதன் (@castro_fiedel) March 5, 2020
Meanwhile, Australia is scheduled to take on South Africa and the winner meets India in the big finals on March 8.