India vs Australia 2nd T20I: Rain threat looms large as international cricket returns to Nagpur after 3 years

Nagpur, Sep 22: Rohit Sharma-led Indian cricket team will take on Australia at the Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) Stadium, Nagpur in the second T20I on Friday (September 23). The must-win game for Team India is likely to be affected as rain lashed the city overnight.

The ground staff had put the covers on all day due to rain and overcast conditions. Orange City has been under the spell of rain for the last few days and the VCA administration is keeping its fingers crossed due to the forecast of showers on the match day.

The tickets for the 45000-capacity stadium for the T20I international have been sold out. Abandonment of the game will incur a heavy loss to the administration for it will have to refund the buyers. This is the first international match at this venue and an abandonment of the match will a massive jolt to the enthusiastic fans.

The two teams were greeted with a spell of heavy rain after their arrival in Nagpur on Wednesday (September 21). There were early showers on Thursday morning and Sun remained hidden all day which further poses a threat to the fate of the match.

In the wake of overcast conditions and covers being on all day, the players didn't arrive and preferred doing light gym sessions at the team hotel. As per a report, the ground staff tried removing the covers around noon but put them back soon after due to the threat of rain. The VCA officials are running the super sopper and ensuring there is no leakage and keeping their fingers crossed.

Team India is trailing in the three-match series by 0-1 after the Aaron Finch-led side chased down the mammoth 209-run target with four wickets in hand. Cameron Green slammed a fifty while Matthew Wade's pyrotechnics in the death overs took his team home.