For only the third time at the M. Chinnaswamy stadium, an entire day’s play was abandoned without a ball being bowled. On Sunday, with a good turnout upwards of 6,000 and keen to see the Indian batsmen in action, rain played spoilsport. A slight drizzle which began just before start of play at 9.30 never let up and continued steadily dousing the hopes of the players and the fans alike. Waiting patiently through the first session and the lunch break, the die-hard fans trudged back as the umpires Ian Gould and Richard Kettleborough finally called off play at 2pm even as the covered-up turf resembled a water-logged arena. Only on two occasions in the past, in 1978 against the West Indies and in 2001 against England, a full day’s play had been lost. Incidentally, both the Test matches were washed out on the final day resulting in draws.
With the second day being abandoned and more showers predicted over the next few days, it’ll be a huge task for the groundsmen to get the turf in condition. The drizzle died down after play was called off but the cloudy weather didn’t bring any respite.
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