The English women's cricket team got knocked out of the ICC World T20 in a rained-washed semi-final without a ball being bowled.

Torrential rain in Sydney destroyed England's World Cup hopes as the semi-final has been officially abandoned. The game was set to get underway at 3 pm local time, but the rainy conditions left no chance of that happening.

The heavy covers were kept in place for one more hour before the umpires gave up their hopes of staging the contest.

Consequently, India reached their maiden Women's World T20 final.

According to regular rules, a minimum of five overs per side must be played to constitute a T20 International. However, in World Cup knockout matches, the minimum target is 10-overs per side.

However, in the case of abandoned matches during knockouts, the leaders of any group would go through to the next round. England lost against South Africa in their first outing. India won the uncontested semi-final because they ended their group stage as leaders.

Technically, England's survival depended wholly on South Africa's performance and the weather. Had they won the first match, things could have been different.

Previously, Cricket Australia had requested the ICC to arrange a reserve day for the semi-finals, as the weather office predicted rainfall for Thursday. But, cricket's governing body rejected that request. Pundits are claiming that the ICC has scored a big own-goal and punished not only the organisation's reputation but the sport itself.

Such a farcical situation that is unheard of in any other major sports event saw cricket lovers fuming on social media. However, this is not the first time that ICC's unrealistic rules hurt the integrity of the game.

Pallekele International Stadium.
Rain brought an end to play Getty

England's men's team won the 2019 World Cup on home soil after the final was tied against New Zealand. With scores level for both sides, ICC ruled the Brits the new World champions based on the number of boundaries they scored on that day.

Cricket pundits were left awed by the result, but fair-play is the rule of the game. They accepted England as the World Cup winners.