After their one-off Test against Afghanistan in Greater Noida was washed out without the toss taking place, rain appears to have followed New Zealand to Galle where the Black Caps face Sri Lanka in a two-Test series starting Wednesday.
Rain just doesn't seem to leave the New Zealand cricket team alone.
It played a part in getting a historic Test against Afghanistan in Greater Noida washed out without a single ball bowled , although to be fair that had more to do with the shambolic conditions and facilities at the venue more than rain.
Read | 'Frustrating and disappointing': AFG, NZ coaches react after abandoned Test
And it appears to have followed them to the neighbouring island nation of Sri Lanka, where there is a forecast of rain for all five days of the first Test, which gets underway on Wednesday at the Galle International Stadium.
The weather forecast for the opening day of the first Test reads "partly sunny, breezy and humid with a couple of showers, mainly early in the day" with a 69 per cent chance of rain, according to Accuweather . It doesn't get much better the following day with a 63 per cent chance of rain, "mainly late in the day".
The probability of rain reduces on Friday, Day 3 (40 per cent), only to hit a high of 75 per cent on Day 4 with a 22 per cent chance of thunderstorms. Monday, the final day of the match, is expected to be "mostly cloudy with occasional rain", according to the weather-tracking website.
However, the iconic Galle Stadium is known for its excellent drainage system, as are a majority of the venues in Sri Lanka, with the ground staff covering the entire playing area more often than not. Therefore, both teams will remain hopeful of a result in both games in the upcoming series, even if there's heavy rain around the corner.
Sunday will be a rest day due to the presidential election in the country. It will be the first instance of a rest day in the Test format since the first Test between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe in Colombo (Sinhalese Sporting Club) in December, 2001.
The Black Caps have managed to get some practice in the coastal city along the south-western tip of the Island nation, and opening batter and vice-captain Tom Latham said their knowledge of the conditions in Galle would also come in handy during the Tests series.
"It was frustrating, but obviously the weather is something we can't control and so when we got here we just had to move forward and get stuck into our preparation.
"Everyone has been doing their own stuff over the winter and we had a couple of great camps [before leaving] and we played here in 2019 so we do have knowledge of the conditions," Latham was quoted as saying according to RNZ .
Galle also hosts the second and final Test of the series, which gets underway on 26 September. The Kiwis then travel to India where they face the Rohit Sharma-led side in a three-Test series that gets underway on 16 October and takes place in Bengaluru, Pune and Mumbai.
While the one-off Test against Afghanistan that ended in a complete washout wasn't part of the 2023-25 cycle of the ICC World Test Championship, the two-Test series against Sri Lanka will be. And the Kiwis will be hoping to complete a 2-0 sweep of the series in order to keep their hopes of reaching the final for a second time in three editions alive.
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