6 instances when rain affected a team's chances at an ICC tournament

#2 India at the 2002 Champions Trophy

Rain in both days of the final resulted in India sharing the 2002 Champions Trophy with Sri Lanka

After ending the 2000 Champions Trophy as the runners-up, India were keen to lift the trophy in Sri Lanka in 2002 and by the way India were playing, it looked like they would win the tournament.

In their opening game, India defeated Zimbabwe by 14 runs before registering a convincing win over England. At the Premadasa stadium, India chased down a total of 270 in less than 40 overs thanks to centuries from their openers Virender Sehwag and Sourav Ganguly.

In the semi-finals, India were up against South Africa and made a remarkable comeback to beat them by 10 runs.

In the final, India were up against hosts Sri Lanka who had defeated the mighty Australians in the semis. The decider saw Sri Lanka bat first after winning the toss and fifties from Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara took them to a total of 244/5 in 50 overs. In reply, Virender Sehwag began steadily by smashing three boundaries and India were 14/0 in 2 overs before rain halted play. The match could not continue any further and was scheduled to be played the next day.

In the following day, Sri Lanka once again batted first and this time scored 222/7 in their 50 overs thanks to fifties from Mahela Jayawardene and Russell Arnold. In reply, India lost Dinesh Mongia early but Virender Sehwag was playing steadily, scoring 25 from 22 and India were looking well set at 38/1 in 8.4 overs before rain once again took centre-stage. Play could not resume any further and both India and Sri Lanka were declared co-champions.

Had rain not played spoilsport, then India were in a strong position to chase down Sri Lanka’s total on both occasions especially with the likes of Sehwag, Ganguly, Tendulkar, Dravid, Yuvraj, and Kaif in their arsenal.