A mild thunderstorm, coupled with heavy showers, have delayed the start of the match. The sudden showers accompanied by lighting, began around the scheduled toss time of 7.30 pm, lasted for about 15 minutes as the ground remained fully covered.
After a brief let-up, rain again started to pour down heavily and continued till about 8.30 pm, thereby putting a question mark on the match.
If not the cricketers, it were the groundsmen who were seen in the thick of action in the middle as they remained busy clearing water accumulated in some parts of the ground, even as the entire ground had remained under cover for more than an hour.
Two Super soppers were pressed into action the moment after the rain stopped around 8.30 pm.
It was a sultry afternoon today but the weather changed with sudden thunderstorms similar to that of yesterday's squall that had caught the city unawares with 96kmph wind.
The weathermen blamed it on a cyclonic circulation over central Uttar Pradesh, with a low-pressure trough extending up to north Orissa, triggering the storm and rain.
"One can expect more thundershowers with an occasional squall towards late afternoon or evening till the weekend," said a IMD official. PTI TAP PDS