The first T20I between India and South Africa took a beating from the weather on Sunday after rain washed out the entire contest, without a ball being bowled, in Durban. As the two teams head to Gqeberha for the second match of the series, a similar threat looms. As India and South Africa look to get some valuable practice for next year’s T20 World Cup, the second T20I might fail to offer what both teams are looking for, with an overall 78% chance of rain at the venue today.
According to AccuWeather, there is about an 84% chance of rain during the day in Gqeberha, with the cloud cover being 85%. However, the chances of rain reduce during the night to about 6%, with the cloud cover being 73%.
The weather forecast does suggest that things will improve as the day progresses but that doesn’t take away the rain threat away from the second T20I.
After the first T20I between India and South Africa was washed out, legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar did express his displeasure over how the organisers tried to protect the ground during rain.
Gavaskar said the South African board should follow the Eden method of covering the whole perimeter of the ground during the rain to minimise the damage.
“What the boards need to do now is to cover the entire ground. Let’s have no excuse. Everybody (cricket boards) is getting a lot of money. Let’s make no mistake.
“All the cricket boards have got plenty of money. If they say they don’t, they are lying,” Gavaskar told Star Sports.
“They might not have as much money as the BCCI. Fair enough. But every board has got money to buy these covers to cover the entire ground,” Gavaskar said.
Kolkata’s Eden Gardens is currently the only stadium in the country to have the facility to cover the whole ground in the event of rain, an initiative taken by Sourav Ganguly when he was at the helm of the Cricket Association of Bengal.
With PTI inputs
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