There have been signs of relief with reports indicating it to be a cloudy evening ahead of the high-octane clash between India and Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2022 on Sunday.
Cricket fans are awaiting this clash with high anticipation following two close games during the Asia Cup 2022. Though conditions are slightly better, they are far from being great enough for fans who would not settle for anything less than a 40-over game between the two Asian giants. A few days ago, weather predictions stated rain was sure to affect the game, with more than a 90 per cent chance of showers in the city. Now, it looks like the prayers of millions of fans have been answered as there has been no rain since the morning of October 23 in Melbourne, with a heavy drizzle occurring the previous night.
“Cloudy. Medium (60%) chance of showers, most likely later this evening. The chance of a thunderstorm in the northeast suburbs. Winds southeasterly 20 to 30 km/h,” reads the forecast of Sunday as per Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology.
For October 23, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology had on Thursday predicted the weather to be, “Cloudy. Very high (95 per cent) chance of showers, most likely in the afternoon and evening. Winds southerly 15 to 25 km/h turning southeasterly during the evening.”
It also predicted that 4 to 10 mm of rainfall will take place on Sunday. However, from Thursday (September 26) onwards, the weather will start improving, with a 60 per cent chance of rain on Thursday and Saturday.
India will take on Pakistan at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday. At the ICC competition, India is in Group 2 with Pakistan, Bangladesh, South Africa, Netherlands and Zimbabwe.
Following their October 23 encounter against Pakistan at the MCG, they will play on October 27, against the Netherlands in Sydney, on October 30, against South Africa in Perth, on November 2, against Bangladesh in Adelaide, and on November 6 against Zimbabwe in Melbourne.
India squad for ICC T20 World Cup: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Shami. (ANI)
