Will the rain play spoilsport at Kochi ODI?

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Workers mopping up the water from the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium ground on Friday

KOCHI: All eyes are on the sky.Will the rain play spoilsport at the Kochi ODI? With just a day left for the India-Australia match at Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium, what remains to be seen is whether 2007 would repeat for the ODI.Weather watchers indicate that it’s going to be a repeat of the 2007 ODI between the same teams.The heavy rain on Thursday night and Friday morning has forced both the teams to cancel their practice sessions. Efforts are on to drain out the water collected in some pockets. The outfield is completely wet due to the rain on Thursday night and Friday morning.Workers are trying to manually dry the ground using hundreds of thick sponges along with mops and brushes. More than 50 groundsmen are on a day-long work to dry the ground. The practice pitch has not been affected due to the rain as it’s completely covered. However, practicing at this pitch may not be possible due to its muddy surroundings.It’s learnt that though there was enough jackets available to cover the entire ground, they were not used on Thursday night.The officials with the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) said efforts are on to mop the outfield from Thursday night. The situation in Kochi is the same as in 2007 when India took on Australia on the same ground. That time too
there was heavy rain till the day before the match. Even on the day of the match, many doubted whether the match will be played. There was speculation that the match will be held with less number of overs.But in 2007 the match was played for the entire 50 overs. If it continues to rain, the authorities may have to consider other options including an ODI with less than 50 overs.  

Weather watch The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast isolated heavy rainfall till Sunday.Kochi can expect up to 2 cm of rainfall on Sunday, IMD officials said. IMD has forecast rain/thundershowers in many places in Kerala until Sunday morning. Northwesterly winds at speeds of 45-55 kmph can be expected along Kerala and Lakshadweep coasts, they said.  

Safety net The Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium at Kaloor, the venue for the ODI cricket match between India and Australia, has been thoroughly ‘netted’ by Matsyafed to safeguard players. A 3.25 lakh sq ft stretch covering the entire stadium, including the pitch from the spectators’ gallery, has been covered by 1.5 MM UV treated hi density polyethylene (HDPE) fishing nets produced by the Kerala State Cooperative Federation for Fisheries Development in its net factory in Kochi. It took 10 days for the employees to produce the net and to complete the installation at the stadium.The VIP pavilion in the stadium too will have the same protection. The common tendency of throwing bits of paper, used water bottles and cans by the spectators in every stadia will be restricted here. The ultraviolet treatment provided in these nets helps reduce the temperature inside the stadium. The nets can be rolled back after use and can be reused for successive matches for the next three to four years. 
Bleed Blue campaign : Team India will debut the new Nike ODI Kit against the Aussies on Sunday. The blue jersey in the ODI kit is made entirely from recycled polyester. Nike has been distributing free T-shirts resembling the Indian jerseys to all those who purchase tickets for the ODI. The authorities have requested all spectators of the match to come in the blue T-shirts. The attempt is to create a world record where the entire gallery will be dressed in one colour, said the officials.Nike has launched a Bleed Blue campaign, too. “The Bleed Blue campaign has got the attention of cricket fans. So far about 2.5 million hand imprints have been made as part of the campaign of which 5,000 hand imprints are from the city. The facebook page on the campaign is also getting a good response. So far about 2.1 lakh people are following us,” said Ravi Kallayil, business director-cricket, Nike India.