The start of the first ODI of the three-match series between India and South Africa at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium has been delayed by one and half hour due to heavy rain in Lucknow on Thursday.
The city has been experiencing rain for the past couple of days. Heavy showers are expected throughout the day.
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However, just when things got little cleared and toss was expected at 2:45 pm another spell of drizzle has forced the covers to be back on the square.
According to reports, It will be a 45-over per-side contest provided it start by 3:30 pm, which seems a touch unlikely at the moment.
Weather Report
The weather report of Lucknow on Thursday is not encouraging for cricketing fans as there are high chances that rain could play a spoilsport. During the day it will be mainly cloudy and humid with a couple of showers and a thunderstorm. Later in the day, there is a low of 25 as the weather will be warm and humid with considerable cloudiness; a thundershower in the evening followed by a thunderstorm late is expected.
Pitch Report
The venue of the clash is Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow. Up to this point, this stadium has played host to three one-day internationals, all of which included the West Indies and Afghanistan in November 2019.
The black soil pitch at this surface, while generally a decent pitch for the hitters, does give the pacers the extra zip and bounce off the surface, with the spinners also likely to enter the game later on.
Overall, the pitch is still biased in favor of the batters, who will probably score enough runs after some time on the field.
Probable Playing XI
India
S Iyer, Shikhar Dhawan(C), Shubman Gill, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ishan Kishan, SV Samson, DL Chahar, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, KL Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi
South Africa
RR Hendricks, DA Miller, T Bavuma(C), AK Markram, JN Malan, Dwaine Pretorius, WD Parnell, Q de Kock, K Rabada, T Shamsi, KA Maharaj
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