Rain likely to play spoilsport during India vs Australia 2nd T20I in Nagpur

The second T20I between India and Australia, which is scheduled to be played at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground in Nagpur on Friday, is likely to be impacted by rains that lashed the city overnight and early morning.

Notably, Nagpur has been under a wet spell for the last few days, and rain is predicted for the match day too.

Both the teams landed in Orange City on Wednesday afternoon and were greeted by heavy rain in the evening and the intervening night. There were showers early on Thursday morning and though the rain abated around 10 am, heavy cloud cover over the city means, there is always a threat of more rain.

In such conditions, the sun did not bother to even take a peek at the City, thus further reducing the chances of the ground getting dry on Thursday itself.

The morning spell of rain forced both Australia and India to cancel their scheduled practice session in the afternoon and evening. The players did not travel to the stadium, engaging in a light gym session at the team hotel.

The groundsmen removed the covers around noon to check but with the threat of a drizzle looming, put them back soon. According to VCA officials, they are running the super sopper and ensuring there is no leakage, hoping that there is no further rain on Thursday and Friday.

It is worth noting that, the match tickets at the 45,000-capacity stadium are already sold out and the officials will have to refund the buyers in case the match does not go ahead.

Interestingly, Nagpur is hosting its first international match in three years and there is a lot of enthusiasm among fans, who purchased the tickets online within a few minutes.

The second T20I of the three-match series will be a do-or-die clash for India as they lost the opening match on Tuesday.