The highly anticipated clash between India and Pakistan in Asia Cup 2023 faces a tough challenge from the weather in Kandy with Weather.com predicting thunderstorms and a 90 per cent chance of rain on September 2.
According to Google Weather, a thundershower is expected to occur with chances of 90 per cent precipitation and 84 per cent humidity in Kandy. The temperature is expected to be 28 degrees Celsius.
Ahead of the clash, the Indian men's cricket team arrived at the Colombo airport earlier on Wednesday. Experienced batter Virat Kohli and all-rounder Hardik Pandya were seen having a conversation.
In India's campaign opener against Pakistan, the Indian team will be without star batter KL Rahul who is progressing well from the niggle he picked after recovering from his injury and will be under the National Cricket Academy (NCA) supervision till September 4 as confirmed by Dravid in a press conference.
"He (KL Rahul) had a good week with us, he is progressing really well on the route that we want to take, but he will be unavailable for the first part of the Kandy leg of the trip. The NCA will be looking after him while we are travelling. We will reassess him on the fourth (September 4) and we will take it from there. The signs are good and he is progressing really well," Dravid said.
While Indian skipper Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammad Shami and India head coach Rahul Dravid were seen chatting and sharing laughs while sitting in the bus.
Pakistan, India and Nepal are in Group A while Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka are in Group B. The tournament will follow a hybrid model with Pakistan hosting four matches across two venues and Sri Lanka hosting the remaining games.
The six group-stage matches will be followed by the Super Fours beginning September 6.
The final will be played by the top two teams at the end of the Super Fours on September 17 in Colombo.
