Guwahati | Jagran Sports Desk: The first T20I between India and Sri Lanka at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati was called off due wet outfield. It started raining heavily just before the 7 p.m. start and although the downpur passed away, the pitch had damp patches which did not allow play to start as umpires had two inspections.
The umpires made three inspections before deciding that the outfield had not dried enough to commence the match. The cut off for a five-over shootout was 9.46 pm but the outfield could not be prepared in time. The groundsmen even used vacuum drier to remove the damp patches on the pitch, but it did not help much. Indian skipper Virat Kohli also had a look at the wicket and seemed not too pleased.
Earlier in the day, Indian skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and opted to field first. After winning the toss, Kohli said, “We're gonna bowl first. We haven't played here in a while. The last time we played here, we chased well. The game we played prior to that against Australia, they chased well too. The track does play differently in the second half as compared to the first part. It's a good thing actually, there isn't too much of a difference in conditions, except that the track settles down better later on with the wet ball.”
“Last year was outstanding for us in two formats, T20s not so much. Good thing though is that we have a World Cup coming up and we'll be taking things more seriously. Pandey, Samson, Chahal and Jadeja aren't playing. Kuldeep and Washington because of their left-handers and we have three seamers,” he added.
Now the two sides will face each other in Indore on January 7 while the final game is scheduled to be held in Pune on January 10.
Posted By: Aalok Sensharma
