The cricket fans around the world have some worrying news ahead of the much-awaited World Test Championship final between India and New Zealand there is a prediction of heavy rain on all five days at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton. ICC has made the statement earlier that if the game doesn’t produce results the inaugural trophy will be shared between the two skippers i.e. Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson. There is a reserve day on the 23rd of June.
Former England spinner Monty Panesar posted a weather forecast for Southampton on Monday on his Twitter account in which it can be seen that there is a 70-80% chance of rain during those days including the reserve day. According to Weather Channel and AccuWeather reports, a thunderstorm is expected to hit Southampton on the 17th and 18th of June and have 80% rain chances.
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Of all the other five days, Day 2 of the game is expected to have the least amount of rain and will remain cloudy. Trusting the weather forecast, one can be predicted that teams will be missing their practice sessions before the game, which is a big setback before the much anticipated big final.
Weather forecast at the Rose Bowl. #WTCFinal #WTCFinal #NZvsIND https://t.co/hLHb7bsG11 pic.twitter.com/JhUprDqO1C
— Monty Panesar (@MontyPanesar) June 14, 2021
New Zealand has a strong fast bowling attack that includes Trent Boult and Tim Southee, who can swing the balls at will. On the other hand, Virat Kohli might use all his four fast bowlers for this match. Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj could take advantage of the overcast and windy conditions.
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Talking about the same, the Indian Test specialist, Cheteshwar Pujara said, “They will obviously have the advantage having played two Test matches. That is before the final but when it comes to the final we will give our best. So we are not worried about that. We will try and focus on these 10 to 12 days which we have for preparation. We are also going to play a practice game and we will try and make the most of what we have. I feel that our team will be up for the final.”
Pujara had a terrific test series in India’s famous win in Australia earlier this year. He also asserted that it will be the most challenging for the batsmen to bat in fickle weather conditions.
