Melbourne: Threat of rainfall looms over the blockbuster ICC T20 World Cup 2022 clash between India and Pakistan in Melbourne which will take place on Sunday.
Though fans are hyped up for this match and are waiting for this anxiously, rain gods could play spoilsport in fans' enjoyment of what will be the campaign opener for these two Asian giants.
From Friday onwards, there is heavy likelihood of showers till 25 October onwards.
For 23 October, the day of this match, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology has predicted the weather to be, "Cloudy. Very high (95 per cent) chance of showers, most likely in the afternoon and evening. Winds southerly 15 to 25 km/h turning southeasterly during the evening."
There is a possibility that 4 to 10 mm of rainfall takes place on Sunday.
The match will be taking place in India at 1:30 PM, which translates to around 7 PM in Melbourne. In this case, the weather forecast on the match day looks like a scary sight for cricket lovers across India and Pakistan.
For the rest of the week, the possibility of showers will decline from October 26, Wednesday onwards, with 60 per cent (Medium) chance to showers on Wednesday and Thursday respectively.
At the ICC competition, India is in Group 2 with Pakistan, Bangladesh, South Africa and two qualifiers.
Following their 23 October encounter against Pakistan at the MCG, they will play on 27 October, against a qualifier in Sydney, on 30 October, against South Africa in Perth, on 2 November, against Bangladesh in Adelaide, and on November 6. (vs qualifier in Melbourne).
India squad for ICC T20 World Cup: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Shami. (ANI)