The heavy covers over the wicket remained in place an hour after the scheduled start at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Thursday, when umpires gave up hope of staging an abridged contest. India advanced because it finished ahead of England in group play.

Australia's was playing a night semifinal against South Africa at the same venue, and officials were hopeful that match might be played. As the winner of Group B, South Africa would advance to the final if play was not possible against Australia.

Regular rules dictate a minimum of five overs per innings is required to constitute a T20 but in knockout matches for this tournament it is 10 overs per innings.

There was no reserve day scheduled for the semifinals.

England captain Heather Knight was reasonably diplomatic after the washout, which she dubbed "sad for the tournament," and made it clear that no team should suffer the same fate at future World Cups.

"They're the rules that everyone signed up to. Obviously there has been this situation and the game tonight is potentially going to be rained off as well, so you'd hope now there is going to be a rule change," Knight said. "That moving forward, no other team will have to experience going out of a World Cup purely because of rain. Hopefully it changes. We're frustrated.

"The weather has cost us. It'll be nice not to have the jokes about English weather now ... that's one positive."

The final is scheduled for the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday, which coincides with International Women's Day. Officials are hoping for a world record crowd for a women's sporting event in the 100,000-capacity MCG.