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Cricket PlayersColombo weather report: Forecast worsens for high-voltage India-Pakistan clash as rain percentage rises significantly
Check the weather forecast in Colombo for Sunday ahead of India vs Pakistan.
On a day when cricket was supposed to take centre stage, the sport’s ancient enemy has a chance that it will make itself felt today. Eyes all across Colombo are on the horizon, to ensure that thunderclouds and any chance of rain stays away from the city and from the R Premadasa Stadium, which today hosts the much-awaited T20 World Cup encounter between India and Pakistan.
Dark skies were slowly coming into the line of sight in Colombo yesterday afternoon as the Ireland vs Oman match drew to a close, and that has been the general fear surrounding Sunday’s marquee game as well.
As per AccuWeather, Sunday is expected to see plenty of rain over the course of the majority of the day. The morning and afternoon will see downpours that will keep the R Premadasa surface covered and tended to with utmost care, as it was overnight in preparation for the marquee game.
The Premadasa Stadium is also a ground which possesses excellent drainage, forged in the fire, as it were, of a nation which experiences regular rainfall. A combination of strong care and the excellent drainage system will hopefully mean that not too many overs are lost, if at all.
The rain is expected to be constant and frequent, which might put the match at risk. However, there is a silver lining to this particular grey cloud: while much of the day sees a probability of rain at 60%+, the numbers begin to dip right around 7:00 PM local time, which is when the match is set to begin.
Evening should fare much better in Colombo
The good news is that there is still a strong likelihood that rain avoids Colombo altogether, with current weather radars illustrating that the rain-bearing clouds coming in off the Indian Ocean are skirting around the southern end of the island nation, and keeping away from the capital on its western coast.
However, the concern also lies in the fact that the forecast has worsened over the last 48 hours. While evening rains were originally not expected at all, BBC Weather estimates that Colombo could see rainfall as late as 9:00 PM local, a solid two hours into the scheduled time for the match. This would undoubtedly force at least a shortened game, so fingers will be crossed around the world.
India and Pakistan will both hope that a full game is in order when they lock horns later today, but they also have the added benefit of knowing that they will compete at a stadium that has prepared an excellent drainage system, with a grounds team who are intimately familiar with hosting games of cricket around rain.
Sri Lanka has seen clear skies and the tournament has seen full matches thus far – fingers remain crossed that this proves to be the case as Suryakumar Yadav’s team faces Salm Ali Agha and company later today.
