The Hindu : Front Page : What is a rainy spell to cricket fans?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 23, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Front Page

Front Page

What is a rainy spell to cricket fans?

Bangalore Bureau

Bangalore gets a drenching while fans expect Dhoni’s boys to soak up a series win

— Photo: K.R. Deepak

Water-logged: A view of the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore with the pitch covered ahead of Sunday’s fourth one-day cricket match between England and India.

BANGALORE: Duckback and Duckworth were the words bandied about on a rainy Saturday on the eve of the fourth ODI between India and England here.

Ticket holders and cricket fans, who usually hope for a nail-biting finish, might actually start chewing their nails even before the start itself, considering the 13 mm rainfall the city recorded on Saturday.

People going about their routine on roads and children returning from schools got a good drenching owing to sudden rain, which pushed the mercury down by nearly five degrees Celsius. Motorcyclists took shelter under big trees and flyovers. Although, the control rooms of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), Fire Force and the City Police did not receive any reports of major rain-related damage, work related to underpasses and flyovers, and asphalting of roads taken up by the BBMP were affected. But what is a rainy spell to cricket fans? Already they are debating over how worried England will be over the return of Sachin Tendulkar to the Indian squad. The visitors are striving to stay alive in the series with a victory in the Hero Honda Cup fourth One Day International at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. The weather is also bound to frustrate Kevin Pietersen’s men further. After the Duckworth Lewis rule stunned them at Kanpur, an encore is something they would definitely not want.

One might also recall the ODI between India and Australia in Bangalore in 2007 which was washed out when India began the chase, crushing teams and fans alike. But the KSCA is confident of handling vagaries posed by mercurial weather. “We have super soppers in place and can get the game going even if there is heavy rain. The drainage too is in better shape than before,” said a KSCA official.

The power cut in the city is not likely to affect the match as KSCA has its own back-up.

Fans naturally would love to watch a run feast here and they may get it if one goes by the assessment of KSCA curator Naryana Raju. “It is basically batsman-friendly wicket that we have put in place and there should also be a little assistance to bowlers as the game progresses. It could be a good contest, if both teams come up with good batting display.” For fans, fireworks from Dhoni and his boys as they charge ahead to seal a series win will be just what the doctor ordered, rain or not.

Meanwhile, the Department of Meteorology forecast for the weekend says that the skies will continue to remain cloudy and a few spells of rain and thundershowers are likely. The minimum temperature will remain around 20 degrees Celsius. Director of Department of Meteorology Muthuchami A. said: “This can be attributed to low pressure in the south-west region of the Bay of Bengal and the trough of low pressure in the South-East Arabian Sea.” More rain was expected in the city over the next 36 hours. This was a normal phenomenon during the north-east monsoon, he added.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page