1st T20I: Eyes on Delhi skies as Afghanistan-India lock horns in opener
Delhi weather will be in focus as Afghanistan host India for a three-match T20I series in the national capital from Sunday onwards.
New Delhi: Delhi weather will be in focus as Afghanistan host India for a three-match T20I series in the national capital from Sunday onwards.
The monsoon in Delhi has brought sparse showers to the national capital in the last fortnight, and weather promises to be one of the things to keep a tap on as the two teams gear up for the clashes at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.
As per AccuWeather, there is a 64 per cent chance of precipitation on Sunday as the rain threatens to interrupt the opener. The match is slated to begin at 7 PM and, going by hourly updates, the weather threat looms large in the afternoon and evening, more so than in the morning.
Till 12 noon, the rain chances stand at 10 per cent or fewer, but from 1 PM onwards, the precipitation chances hover around the 50 per cent mark. By 6 PM, the precipitation chances stay at 40 per cent, while at 7 they decline further to 37 per cent.
The precipitation chance increases a touch to 40 per cent for the next two hours before dropping to 37 per cent at 10 PM and 34 per cent at 11 PM. It seems that the weather won’t be able to wash the clash out, but it can intervene with occasional showers.
Weather permitting, eyes will be on the Indian big guns, with the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Sanju Samson and Axar Patel back in the squad after missing the 3-0 Zimbabwe T20I series.
Bumrah, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar have all been cleared fit to play as the BCCI confirmed that Harshit Rana was out due to a “rectus femoris strain”, with Yash Thakur replacing him.
The series marks Shreyas Iyer’s first assignment as India captain in India. Although Afghanistan are the official hosts, Iyer would be leading the Men in Blue for the first time on Indian soil after leading them in the UK and in Zimbabwe.
India would look for a strong outing after they lost the two-match T20I series to Ireland 2-0 and a five-game T20I rubber to England 4-0 in their seven-game trip to the UK. However, India bounced back strongly in Zimbabwe with a 3-0 sweep.
