For a while now, all eyes have been on the weather forecast in Melbourne on Sunday with cricket fans in India, Pakistan and indeed many other parts of the world perhaps, bracing for a gloomy Sunday where the Asian rivals take on each other in a hotly-anticipated clash with up to 100,000 fans in the cavernous MCG and tens of millions more tuning in to watch.
Parts of Australia are facing a third straight La Nina weather event with a wetter-than-average summer expected, and downpours are forecast for Sydney and Melbourne from Friday through to next week, AFP reported recently.
As per weather.com forecast, however, things look rosier (if chilly) for the evening in Melbourne from 7 pm local time (match start time).
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The weather advisory from Bureau of Meteorology still says, at the time of publishing and as per early morning update on Sunday, that there are high chances of showers in the evening.
As per the playing conditions, a complete match is possible if minimum 5 overs can be bowled in each innings. There are no reserve days for group games. They only come into play for the semifinals and final.
Speaking about the possible weather interruptions, India captain Rohit Sharma had this to say on Saturday at the press conference:
I’ve been hearing about Melbourne weather for a while now, and it keeps changing. In the morning when I woke up, a lot of the buildings when I opened my hotel were in clouds, and now we certainly see the sunshine.
You don’t really know what is going to happen tomorrow. The things that are in our control, we’ll try and control that, which is we’ll have a good training session today, go back, relax ourselves and get ready for tomorrow. As simple as that. We need to come here thinking that it’s a 40-over game. We will be ready for that.
If the situation demands that it’s a shorter game, we will be ready for that, as well. A lot of the guys have played such kinds of games before, and they know how to manage themselves in a situation like that where you are getting ready for a 40-over game and then suddenly it’s a 20-over game for both sides, 10 overs each or 5 overs each.
Luckily, we played one game in India against Australia which was an 8-over game.
I think in terms of where the guys stand, I don’t think it’s going to make much of a different, but we just certainly need to come here very well prepared and thinking that it’s going to be a 40-over game.
— via ICC Media Zone
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