Cricket fans are keeping their fingers crossed as nature threatens to show its ugly face on the reserve day of India vs Pakistan's Super 5 clash in Colombo. The much-awaited match at R. Premadasa Stadium was interrupted by heavy rain on Sunday and India, which was stopped at 147/2 in 24.1 overs, is expected to resume the game on Monday at 3 pm.
Pakistan, which has won the toss, chose to field on Monday. Openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill scored half-centuries bagging a total of 121 runs in the opening wicket. The Indian skipper was dismissed by Shadab Khan while Gill's wicket was taken by Shaheen Shah Afridi.
Reserve day rules
Virat Kohli and K.L. Rahul who returned after recovering from injury are on the crease with unbeaten 8 and 17 respectively before rain postponed the match to a reserve day. The match will resume from where it was left off and will be a 50-over match.
If the rains play spoilsport on the reserve day, umpires might try to make it a 20-overs per side match. A minimum of 20 overs must be played in both innings for a result.
Weather forecast
The probability of precipitation on Monday afternoon in Colombo was 97 per cent with a prediction of 17.9mm rain while cloud cover was 99 per cent, according to AccuWeather.com. In the evening, the prediction puts rain probability at 80 per cent with 7.4mm rain while the cloud cover is 100 per cent.
Pitch report
The pitch at R. Premadasa Stadium is historically favourable to spinners.
India's previous clash with Pakistan in Pallekele stadium was also interrupted by rain last week. The next time India and Pakistan can probably face each other is in the finals, which will also be played in Colombo on September 17. India will clash with Sri Lanka on Tuesday, which means that Rohit's side will be on the pitch for three continuous days since Sunday.