India vs Pakistan Match, Weather Update in Manchester Today: Intermittent showers expected to disrupt marquee contest

India vs Pakistan Manchester Weather Update, World Cup 2019: The biggest threat right now in the World Cup is the rain. And that rain has set the nerves jangling ahead of the biggest clash of the competition — India vs Pakistan. The general atmosphere in Manchester is like, "Please rain gods, stay away." The traveling fans are nervous. Some of them have paid a bomb just for this contest. There is a nervous buzz in the city. It rained in the afternoon on the eve of the match and Pakistan had to train indoors, but then it cleared up in the evening and night. It was cool and sunny at around 8.30 pm and didn't rain throughout the evening. That would have settled some nerves temporarily. But well, it's the English weather and it's as unpredictable as Pakistan.

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Today, Manchester will see mostly two colours painted from one end to the other — blue and green. The blue of India and the green of Pakistan as the marquee cricket contest between the two nations is set to take place in ICC World Cup 2019 at the Old Trafford stadium. This is a game of high significance in terms of semi-finals qualification, and that is all it should be. These are two good ODI sides and they will be looking to collect two more points and cement their place in the semis.

Virat Kohli during a training session at Old Trafford Cricket Stadium in Manchester. AFP

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Despite the clash just being a game of cricket, the hype has been created by the fans in lead up to the tournament. Whenever the two neighbours meet each other at a world stage, political undercurrents come alive outside the cricket pitch as well. Keeping the political and cultural significance aside, even in pure cricketing terms, an India vs Pakistan match stays a big contest as the two teams include some of the finest talent in world cricket.

However, in Manchester on Sunday, apart from the fans, there could be one more uninvited guest in form of the dark clouds. The weather forecast does not look too good for the Sunday clash. As per Accuweather, Manchester will see a couple of showers from morning till evening. The only silver lining is that it might not rain consistently but there may be some interruptions in the match, which could make the toss very, very crucial. As the day progresses, there could be more rain as cloud cover percentage during the evening time is 95 percent, which increases the chances of the shower. Possibility of sun coming out on Sunday is as bleak as AB de Villiers returning to play for Proteas again.

Additional inputs from Jigar Mehta in Manchester

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