 "India's captain Rohit Sharma with coach Gautam Gambhir chat during a training session before the first Test against New Zealand in Bengaluru. PTI")
Team India’s practice session ahead of the first Test against New Zealand was abandoned due to heavy rain in Bengaluru on Tuesday. According to news agency IANS, the training session at Bengaluru’s Chinnaswamy Stadium was scheduled to take place at 11.15 am but was cancelled do to relentless rain. Another report, in ESPNCricinfo, said that New Zealand’s training session was scheduled for 1.30 pm, and that it took place indoors in a facility at the National Cricket Academy (NCA).
According to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), heavy rain is forecast for the rest of the week. There is a 70 per cent chance of rain on Wednesday, the Day 1 of the first Test, and that number increases to 90 on Day 2. Multiple areas across Karnataka have also received a yellow alert, which could lead to interruptions during the match.
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The second Test between India and Bangladesh in Kanpur had witnessed several interruptions due to rain and wet outfield. Only 35 overs were possible on Day 1 of the Kanpur Test before bad light, and later rain, played spoilsport. The second and third days were also abandoned due to rain and wet outfield. However, an aggressive approach by the Indian batters led by Yashasvi Jaiswal (72 off 51), Virat Kohli (47 off 35) and KL Rahul (68 off 43) led a spirited India comeback.
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Ravichandran Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah played crucial roles with the ball as India sealed the series 2-0 to maintain top spot in the World Test Championship (WTC) standings. New Zealand, who are coming on the back of a 0-2 series loss to Sri Lanka in the island nation, find themselves in sixth place in the WTC standings.
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