A tame end to a highly anticipated contest at Manuka Oval. The relentless rain had the last laugh in the series opener, with this five-match series now virtually reduced to a four-match series. The caravan now moves to a fully-packed MCG for the second game on Friday.
For now, this is me, AkshayaKrishna Polya, signing off on behalf of my co-commentator, Ajay Pal Singh,scorer Paras Yadav and statistician Aman. Plenty of action awaits us on our network for the remainder of the day. We will meet again. Until then, it is cheers!!!
4:27 PM IST, 9:57 PM Local Time: The match has been called off. Rain has had the last say here in Canberra. India had a good outing with the bat in the series opener for about 60 deliveries, where they managed to score 97/1.
Under gloomy conditions in the capital city of Australia, the hosts put India into bat. Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill started well and they added 35 runs before Nathan Ellis got rid of the left-hander.
Suryakumar Yadav walked in and got his innings going with a trademark whip over deep backward square leg. There was a rain break after 5 overs for around 40 minutes. The match was reduced to 18 overs per side.
After the break, SKY and Gill both then played some crisp shots and added 62 runs in 35 balls before a second rain break forced the officials to call off the game.
OVER 10
India
97/1
Suryakumar Yadav
39(24)
Shubman Gill
37(20)
Nathan Ellis
1-25(1.4)
4:22 PM IST, 9:52 PM Local Time: The umpires make their way to the middle but they have the umbrellas on. Which means it is still raining. I am afraid it is not looking good. The whole square is under covers. The fans are still sticking around, hoping to get some cricket before the end of the evening. No sign of any movement from the ground staff.
4:16 PM IST, 9:46 PM Local Time: Still raining in Canberra and the covers are on. We have to start around 10:20 PM Local Time (4:50 PM lST) to get a 5-over Australian run chase underway.
If Australia have to come back for a truncated run chase of 5 overs, then they will have to chase around 71 on the DLS method.
3:56 PM IST, 9:26 PM Local Time: With the cut-off time for this game set at 11 PM local, it looks like India’s innings might be over if play does resume. The rain has picked up and is coming down heavily at the moment. With such a heavy downpour, it will take a lot of time for the ground staff to get the field ready for resumption.
3:45 PM IST, 9:15 PM Local Time: The drizzle is getting lighter. Still there, though, and so are the covers. Just as we updated that, it again got heavier. It has been that kind of an evening.
3:35 PM IST, 9:05 PM Local Time: Still raining in the Australian capital. Reminder that the floodlights will be switched off automatically at 11 PM local time which is still around 2 hours away. We have to conclude the game before that.