Asia Cup 2023: IND vs PAK - Weather Forecast, 2nd September, Pallekele Cricket Stadium

India are playing their Asia Cup 2023 opener against Pakistan at Pallekele.

As expected, the rain has caused an interruption in the biggest battle between two Asian giants, India and Pakistan, at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy. It was all sunny and clear when the toss happened, and Indian captain Rohit Sharma decided to bat first. Just after the fourth over, suddenly rain came pouring down in Kandy, and the proceedings were interrupted. The game resumed after a half-hour break as the rain slowed down and the skies got clear once again. Rain interrupted the proceedings on Thursday as well.

Weather forecast in Pallekele, Kandy

According to Weather.com, Kandy will see another spell of showers after 7 p.m. as the clouds will be building up around central Sri Lanka with extreme humidity. The pacers will be getting a huge boost due to the heavy weather conditions prevailing around Kandy. The temperature will be around 22 to 26 °C, with the humidity level going up to around 90–92 % later in the evening. The precipitation level is likely to remain at 32% when the next spell of showers is expected at 7 p.m. After 7, around 11 p.m., there will be another spell of showers if the game stretches that far.

Sri Lanka are set to host nine games in this Asia Cup across two grounds in the country. R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo will host the super 4 round, while Pallekele Cricket Stadium in Kandy will host league games, including Saturday’s India vs Pakistan and the next one between India and Nepal on Monday. Kandy also witnessed a bit of rain in the morning, prompting ground staff to keep covers on the ground and wickets. They removed the covers just before the toss at 3 p.m. There will be multiple rain delays in the tournament as Colombo and Kandy are both going through their monsoon seasons.

Afridi got two wickets after rain break

Pakistan struck early after the rain break as Shaheen Afridi once again won his battle against Indian captain Rohit Sharma and number 3 batsman Virat Kohli. A rain break caused an interruption in Rohit’s concentration and he lost his control in the final of the 5th over. Afridi delivered a usual in-swinger bowled at good length that deceived Rohit with pace and castled him. Virat Kohli got an inside edge that went on to rattle his stumps. Afridi picked up 2 wickets and sent India back a little in their attack.