9.30am Usually, it’s great being Jasprit Bumrah. But that wasn’t the case yesterday. He bowled three straight maidens to start his spell but also allowed 17 leaves in his nine overs. He was a little up and down. And yet, the genius that he is, he still produced 22 false shots and beat the bat six times. Read more about that in Alagappan Muthu’s match piece here.
Mukunth : “With WTC points at stake, home games gain more significance with high chances of getting the maximum points. Draws due to rains hamper the cause. We play 2 games only against Bangladesh but 5 in Australia. BCCI should look to avoid venues where rains are expected in the month.”
9.15am While we wait for the rain to go away, here’s a recap of what happened on the first day. India won the toss and opted to bowl. It’s not what they usually do at home. The last time India opted to bowl first in a home Test was nine years ago: against South Africa in Bengaluru in 2015. Coincidentally, that Test was also marred by rain. Bangladesh, meanwhile, wanted to bat first. And not just that, they picked three spinners while India stuck with only two. It shows how differently the two teams read the conditions. However, rain and bad light allowed only 35 overs in the whole day, in which Bangladesh scored 107 for 3. You can read more about that here.
Nagraj Todur: “Hemant@ is it raining because of which start of play delayed or is it because wet outfield? ” — It’s raining and the whole ground under covers.
Prateek: “Did Rohit chose to bowl only given rain forecast? Bat big enough in 1st inning and have only 3 innings to close the game?” — That’s an interesting observation.
Pratheek Jain: “It’s astonishing how the richest board on the planet doesn’t feel it needs to invest more on drainage and covers and better measures to start play sooner after a rain break. I’m sure there must be something innovation that can be looked into to make that possible. It’s high time the BCCI starts becoming proactive.”
8.50am And it’s official now. The start of the second day has been delayed because of rain.
Ravi: “Rain Rain Go away…Come again another day….The cricket kiddos want to play”
8.30am Greetings one and all, and I’m afraid we start the day with some bad news. One hour to go for first ball and there’s a light drizzle in Kanpur, it just started for the day, Alagappan says. The team buses just have arrived at the ground to wild fanfare, so there’s hope of some play. Fingers crossed, we’ll bring more updates soon!
Ankit: “Is half an hour earlier start for lost overs in ICC playing conditions? Dont remember it applying for tests in Eng” Unlikely that it’s in the playing conditions because, like you said, Tests only get extended in England in the evening.
Ak: “shouldn’t the play start early at 9 to get in the overs lost yesterday?” Well, even a 9.30am start is doubtful.
