Manchester weather forecast: Rain could spoil Shubman Gill-led India's party at Old Trafford

The fourth Test between India and England at the Old Trafford Cricket Ground from 23 July faces a massive rain threat as there are high chances of the play on the first two days being impacted by showers. This is not good news for Shubman Gill-led India as they are currently 2-1 behind in the five-match Test series.

The overcast conditions could help the seamers and Manchester ground has often been found to be useful for fast bowlers, despite slowing down a bit in the near past. This could influence India into picking Shardul Thakur as injured Nitish Kumar Reddy’s replacement in the playing XI, while Haryana fast bowler Anshul Kamboj is also expected to make his debut in place of Akash Deep, who struggled with a back issue during the third Test at Lord’s.

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Rain, however, could spoil India’s party and the fresh combinations as “An afternoon shower or two” is predicted on Day 1 (23 July, Wednesday) and “A couple of showers” are predicted for Day 2 (24 July, Thursday), according to AccuWeather. In fact, it has been raining on the eve of the match in Manchester on Tuesday.

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Manchester Weather Forecast

There’s a high possibility of rain on the opening day when the probability of precipitation stands at 65% and the temperatures will be between 19 to 14 degrees Celsius. This also means Manchester will be much cooler than London, where the temperature constantly touched 30 degrees Celsius during the Lord’s Test. Also, as per the prediction, we can expect rain delays during the match that will start at 11 AM local time.

The probability of precipitation rises to 85% on the scheduled Day 2 (24 July, Thursday) and the temperatures will be between 21 to 12 degrees Celsius.

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Day 3 (25 July, Friday) and Day 4 (26 July, Saturday) promise to be much brighter with chances of rain pegged at only 7 and 10% respectively.

The probability of precipitation on Day 5 (27 July, Sunday) is 40%, which means we may see a few rain interruptions but nothing serious enough to witness a washout.

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If a large number of overs are lost in the Test match due to rain, then a draw would be the most likely outcome and that’s something Gill and India would not want to have.