A Super Over will decide the result if any of the IPL playoff matches - including the final - is disrupted by the weather and no play is possible in regulation time. And in case the ground conditions continue to remain unplayable, then the league standings will be used to identify the winners, an IPL briefing note has confirmed.Gujarat Titans will face Rajasthan Royals in Qualifier 1 at Kolkata's Eden Gardens on May 24 and Lucknow Super Giants will play Royal Challengers Bangalore at the same venue the next day in the Eliminator.There are forecasts of rain in the early part of the week and that could be worrying for players and fans. All the four teams are expected to be in the city by the afternoon.
A eliminator and a qualifier would be played here before the two teams head to Ahmedabad for the last two games. The chances of rain is there in Kolkata and taking that into consideration, there will be a Super Over to decide the winner of the game. Also, an allowance of an extra two hours over the stipulated 200 minutes of match time has been added to the playing conditions. This means that the Eliminator and the two Qualifiers can start as late as 9:40 PM IST, whereas the final can start at 10:10 PM IST.The strategic timeouts will remain as it is and only the mid-innings break would be shorter – this is in case of a delayed start.In the scenario where the Super Over is also not possible, "the team that finished highest in the league table after the 70 matches of the regular season shall be declared the winner of the relevant playoff match or final".The IPL final will start at 8 pm, which is half an hour later than the usual starting time of 7.30pm. May 30 will be reserve day if the final is disrupted and cannot be finished for any reason on that day. For the two Qualifiers and the Eliminator, which do not have reserve days, if one innings is complete but no play is possible in the second, the DLS method will be applied to determine the match result.
