- Sunday, March 09, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
The T20 World Cup has already got underway in Australia but cricket-crazy fans across the globe are waiting with bated breath for Sunday (23) when the mother of all matches is scheduled at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground. Former world champions in the format — India and Pakistan — will take on each other in their opening campaign on that day.
But it seems the match might face a heavy obstacle in the weather. It has been reported that there is prediction for heavy rain in Melbourne on Sunday and the high-profile clash could be a complete washout.
According to the Bureau of Meteorology of the Australian government, there is an 80 per cent chance of showers on Sunday, mostly in the evening.
“Cloudy. High (80%) chance of showers, most likely in the evening. Winds southerly 15 to 25 km/h turning southeasterly during the evening,” says the bureau’s website.
In fact, Melbourne has 95 per cent chances of rain on Friday (21) and Saturday (22), the two days before the mega match.
Friday’s forecast as per the bureau says: “Partly cloudy. Very high (95%) chance of showers, most likely in the afternoon and evening. The chance of a thunderstorm. Light winds.”
Saturday’s forecast says: “Cloudy. Very high (95%) chance of showers, most likely in the morning and afternoon. The chance of a thunderstorm in the morning and afternoon. Light winds becoming southwesterly 15 to 25 km/h during the morning then tending southerly 15 to 20 km/h during the afternoon.”
While the fans will pray to the rain gods to spare the match which they are eagerly looking forward to, the ground staff will have an extra challenging task to make the venue ready for the match in case of heavy downpours. Melbourne, however, is known for its advanced drainage system.
In case there is a washout, both the teams will share the points since there is no reserve day. The International Cricket Council has kept reserve days only for the semi-finals and finals.
India’s final warm-up game against New Zealand at The Gabba, Brisbane, was also washed out because of rain on Wednesday (19).
