Rain threatening the first ODI between India and Australia

India and Australia are set to lock horns on Sunday at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai in the first ODI of the five-match series. However, rain threat is looming over the match as per the Indian Meteorological Department. They have predicted thunderstorms in the afternoon or in the evening during the game. If rains gods have the final call in Chennai, there would be no result in the first One-Dayer as there is no reserve day for the matches.

The Australian team has arrived in India for the second time this year having travelled for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in February-March. It was the hosts who won the hard fought Test series by 2-1 which had all the ebbs and flows of the game. The limited-overs series too is expected to be played with the same vigour but the home advantage diminishes to a major extent when it comes to ODIs.

The Weather report

Race to become numero uno

The series between India and Australia is the race to become number 1 in ODIs as the winner will take the top spot in the ICC rankings. Currently, both the teams are locked at 117 points with Australia just ahead on decimals holding their position on the edge of the knife. If either of the team manages to win the series by a 3-2 margin or better, they will reach to 118 points and the loser will drop 1 point to 116. For now, Team India starts as favourites as they are in the middle of the dream run in limited-overs cricket but the visitors could never be counted out as 12 of their 14 players were part of the Indian Premier League earlier this year.

The remaining ODIs will be played in Kolkata, Indore, Bengaluru and Nagpur respectively. But there are fewer chances of rain in the last three ODIs apart from Kolkata where it can rain at any time of the year. Hopefully, rain will not mar the series which is expected to be one of the most intensely fought like in 2013 when it was run-fest across all the games and India won it 4-3.