Anil Kumble saddened by the present condition of Chennai

Team India is currently in the city of Chennai to play England in the final encounter of the 5-match Test series at the Chepauk starting on Friday. The city has been affected badly by Cyclone ‘Vardah’ and Team India head coach Anil Kumble who is in the city with the team was saddened to see the damage caused by the cyclone in southern parts of the country.

The team reached Chennai on Tuesday and would look to keep up their winning momentum and finish the series on high with a 4-0 triumph. Kumble posted a video on his twitter handle which showed the disastrous condition of Chennai and asked everyone to support each other in the time of crisis. This is what he wrote: Saddened to see the wreckage the Cyclone has caused in #Chennai. We should all support and help each other in times like these.

Cyclone ‘Vardah’ lashed the city on Monday causing a considerable amount of damage to properties around the city and even the stadium wasn’t spared. Though the pitch and the squares remained unaffected but it has left the strip damp ahead of the dead rubber. The sightscreen was affected and bulbs from the floodlights towers had fallen down.

Despite the cyclone not affecting the pitch, there has been a lot of damp areas on the pitch and the groundsmen have gone back to the age old method of drying the surface. With burning coal being placed on top of the surface, the groundsmen are optimistic that the strip will be ready for the encounter which is less than 48 hours away from now.

“The wickets and ground are perfect. The pitches and outfield have been covered and those are in good shape. There has been some damage. Sightscreens have fallen down, bulbs from the floodlight towers have fallen down. Some gates have fallen, but those things we are clearing. We have been fixing the bulbs. Two towers we fixed today and the rest we will do tomorrow. We have two days, we should be alright. There’s no uncertainty over the Test,” TNCA secretary Kasi Viswanath claimed on Tuesday.

Team India has been in a scintillating form and courtesy extraordinary performances from Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jayant Yadav etc they have already taken an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series and would look to end the series on a winning note.

Saddened to see the wreckage the Cyclone has caused in #Chennai. We should all support and help each other in times like these. pic.twitter.com/u9EyGCJeAb

— Anil Kumble (@anilkumble1074) December 13, 2016