World Cup 2019: Silver Lining

Nottingham: The frustrating English weather finally caught up with the Indian team as their third World Cup game against New Zealand was called off without a ball being bowled here Thursday. Both teams shared a point each.

New Zealand have seven points from four games while India now have five from three with the next game against Pakistan in Manchester on Sunday. Incidentally, weather is threatening to play spoilsport over there too.

The toss was delayed due to inclement weather and in the end it never took place. An inspection was to happen at 3 pm IST, the scheduled start time, but was put off after it started raining again.

The outfield was pretty wet after heavy showers in the past two days. The umpires had one last inspection at 7.30 pm IST before taking the decision to abandon the match.

Indian captain Virat Kohli said it was a sensible decision to call off the match. “Sensible decision to not play, given the outfield wasn’t fully fit (sic). One point not a bad thing for sides that have won all their games so far. So we’ll take it,” he said.

Vijay Shankar, Kedar Jadhav and Mohammed Shami at the Indian dressing room in Nottingham. (Photo: AP)

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson said it was not an ideal situation but in a way a good chance for the players to get some rest. “(It has) been about four days and we haven’t seen the sun, so this doesn’t surprise us. It’s not ideal, but little bit of time off is also important. We have some break now midway through, so it’s a good chance for the guys to freshen up and look forward to the next challenge,” he said.

This was the fourth such game in the ongoing tournament that has not yielded any result, something that will certainly increase ICC’s worry. The practical difficulties of not having a reserve day as stated by the ICC CEO David Richardson are certainly leaving the fans, especially the Indian ones, high and dry.

The ICC refunds tickets if a single ball is not bowled but the hundreds of fans who have bought overpriced tickets from a third party are certain to lose money. “I have paid £800 (more than Rs 70,000) for a ticket. I am losing a lot of money. The black market rate for the Pakistan game is £2,000, I can’t afford that,” said a software engineer who has come all the way from Singapore.

The broadcasters, however, can heave a sigh of relief as all the matches are insured and they can make up for losses.