India vs Australia: Hosts cancel training session in Kolkata due to inclement weather, visitors use indoor facility

Kolkata: India were forced to cancel their training session on Tuesday due to inclement weather as the Eden Gardens was under cover while Australia used the indoor facility of the stadium. “Today’s condition is because of a low pressure formation which is situated at northwest Bay of Bengal and its neighbouring areas. Also, there’s the axis of monsoon trough causing rainfall,” IMD Kolkata director Ganesh Das told PTI. The low pressure will pass by Wednesday but the Met director said that there are still chances of a downpour on the match day. Eden Gardens remained under cover for two days as Steve Smith and Co, who arrived in the morning quickly changed their plan and their batsmen hit the indoor facilities, while bowlers returned to team hotel. “Doubt we will be out on the ground today,” posted Aussie vice-captain David Warner on Instagram with a photo of Eden Gardens under cover.India were slated to train in the evening session but seeing the ground reality they were quick to cancel the session. “Since it’s raining and the facilities are covered, they won’t go to the stadium today,” read an official communication from Team India. There was a downpour on Monday afternoon as the ground is put under cover since then. It also rained on Tuesday but with less intensity and hazy conditions prevailed as the Cricket Association of Bengal groundstaff did not take any chance. “We need at least two hours of sunshine to get the ground ready. We are well-equipped, we are keeping our fingers crossed. The good thing is we still have two days,” East Zone curator Ashish Bhowmick told PTI. India lead 1-0 in the five-match ODI series with a 26-run win over the world champions in the rain-truncated Chennai match on 17 September.