Reference at the time of writing this article: ICC Men’s Twenty 20 World Cup 2022 Playing Conditions.
It is interesting to see that the limited over format has win, loss, tie, and no result as the possibilities for a game to conclude (let us exclude ‘match abandoned’ and ‘conducting of super over’ to get a result from this discussion; it will be covered in a different article). The definition of win, loss, and tie are pretty clear. In these cases, runs scored by both teams at the conclusion of the game decide the choice of the result. However, ‘No result’ is also a type of result which is purely decided by the overs bowled in the game.
The factor which decides the fate of the game to be classified as ‘no result’ or the other three is the minimum number of overs bowled in the second innings of the limited over game. If a minimum number of overs in the second innings are not bowled, then the result is ‘no result’ simply because it doesn’t constitute a game.
In a T20 format, the minimum number of overs required to be bowled during the second innings of the game to constitute a game is 5 overs. This is a standard followed in international as well as domestic and franchise cricket.
In the ongoing Men’s Twenty-20 World Cup (2022), there is a small tweak to this clause.
All the qualifier games and league stage games did follow the 5-overs rule for constituting a game. However, for semi-finals and finals, in order to constitute a game, the minimum number of overs to be bowled in the second innings of the game has to be 10 overs.
This amendment to the generally followed rule is currently applicable to the knock-out stages of the Men’s Twenty-20 World Cup 2022 only.