T20 World Cup: Rain forecast, cold weather loom over India, Bangladesh ahead of Wednesday’s clash

Adelaide:  The ongoing T20 World Cup in Australia has been heavily affected by inclement weather, especially seen in Melbourne, where four matches were affected by rain, resulting in three washouts without a ball being bowled.

Though India and Bangladesh have been largely unaffected by rain in the tournament till now, there is now a threat of inclement weather affecting their Super 12 match at Adelaide Oval on Wednesday.

As per the Australian Government’s Bureau of Meteorology, who had predicted La Nina weather effect in the country for the third straight year, the skies in Adelaide will be cloudy on Wednesday, with 60 per cent chance of showers predicted for evening.

On the eve of the match, Adelaide was greeted by cold weather and rains, which made the capital of South Australia look like a city from Europe. Bangladesh cancelled their practice session for the day, while the Indian team were forced to practice indoors.

While acknowledging that India have been lucky to avoid running into rain on match days, head coach Rahul Dravid said his team is ready to counter the inclement weather if it makes the T20I match a truncated affair.

“From our general chat, (it) has always been to control what we can control. The weather and what is going to happen, unfortunately we can’t really control it. I think considering one, Afghanistan has been a bit unfortunate. They’ve missed two of the games have been washed out.

“We’ve been lucky, we’ve been able to play all three of our games for full 20 overs, so we’ve been lucky I’d say. But we can only control what we can control. If the weather tomorrow challenges us or forces us to play a 10-12 overs game, then we’ll respond accordingly.”

“We will play it like it is. You can’t go in thinking about it or planning for it. You don’t know how many overs it will be. So you go in thinking it will be a 20-over game, and you just respond accordingly, so we’ll control it as in when we get there,” said the former India captain in the pre-match press conference.

With rain bringing in chilly weather in Adelaide, it has also resulted in cricketers trying to play their best game on the field, especially with India and Bangladesh coming in from very different climes in the sub-continent.

“Not only for bowling or fielding, it will also be difficult for batting. It will be very difficult to adjust to that (cold weather). But as international players, in our careers, we have played in these kinds of conditions or different to them. They and we know how to manage it. We cannot deny the fact that it is cold, but we have to manage it. Both teams know how to manage it,” said Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan.

In the face of unfavourable weather and conditions, Shakib admitted that his team has no other option but to adjust to the surroundings greeting them at Adelaide Oval. “It is little difficult as we played out first game in Hobart, where it was very cold. For someone especially coming from the subcontinent, it was very cold.

“Then we went to Sydney, which was very nice weather wise. Brisbane was nice too. Now we are getting another (match) in cold weather. So we have to adjust, there is no other option other than to adjust. But I don’t think it will be a problem because we are mentally ready to play the game.”

But Shakib hopes that despite cold weather and rain forecast looming around, there remains scope for his team to enjoy playing the game. “Of course, I think it will be a full house, as we will be playing against India and they good crowd always playing in Australia or anywhere they go. It will be an exciting game and I hope our team will enjoy.”

–IANS