Rain threat looms large ahead of the second T20I

Come again, another day,

Little Johnny wants to play...'

This is a popular nursery rhyme that the whole of Surat will be chanting come Thursday (September 26). Not Little Johnny, but they’d want India and South Africa to play. After all, for the inaugural international game at the Lalbhai Contractor Stadium in Surat, close to 15,000 spectators had filled the venue.

If weather forecasts are accurate and the talks are anything to go by, rain could affect the second T20I on Thursday (September 26). The downpour on Wednesday (September 25) meant that large area of the ground was under covers. Moreover, the Indian team, who were scheduled to practice in the evening had to cancel their session. South Africa were lucky to finish theirs in the afternoon.

It’s rains in Surat! #INDvSA pic.twitter.com/1xegA70ISw

— Women's CricZone (@WomensCricZone) September 25, 2019

The drainage system at this venue is not one of the best ones, or rather, is largely untested due to lack of matches. But even for a venue with good drainage facilities, the puddles formed on the uncovered portions of the ground would be a handful. Everything will be dependent on the amount of heat and sunshine on the morning of the match day.

With just the first game of the five-match T20I series out of the way, captains refused to read much into the failures. “It was just the first game. So, it is unfair to judge based on that,” said Harmanpreet Kaur, India’s captain, after the first match.

Sune Luus, the touring skipper, was quick to enlist the lessons learnt, the prime one being their spinners’ bowling. “India’s spinners changed their pace. They bowled quicker, slower and (at times) wider as well. They bowled very good changeups,” she said, before adding, “We have to take this into our game as well. They were very consistent while our spinners gave away a few loose balls.”

Both India and South Africa have earmarked the crowd as one that makes a difference in the outcome and, if the rain indeed stays away, expect more to make a beeline to the venue.

There are no official figures available as the entry was on first-come-first-serve basis. But if the organisers are to be believed, that was the approximate figures. A glance around would have easily meant that the number wasn’t a far-fetched one as, apart from the main stand that houses around 8000 people, many more were seated in the temporary arrangements made on the other side of the ground. Those could easily be around 4000 more.

“When you have crowds like this, you can barely hear your own thoughts. They will be here for the next four games as well, so you have to just got to find a way,” said Luus, who admitted that it is a new experience for the young South African players to play amidst the raucous atmosphere.

Kaur couldn’t agree more. “Yes it (the large crowd) was on expected lines. These experiences help when we go to big tournaments like the World Cup.”

Although there are jokes made on weather predictions and their opposite outcomes, for once, the crowd in Surat would love that to happen.

Irrespective of that, both teams would be raring to go when they step out. With an aim to narrow down their personnel keeping in mind the T20 World Cup early next year, expect few chopping and changing for the second T20I. While Mignon du Preez's knock was one of the positives for the tourists, India would be buoyed by their spin-bowling display, specially by Deepti Sharma.

Will ‘Little Jonny’ get to play on Thursday? Whether or not there are umbrellas and raincoats on view, calculators would surely be in demand in Surat for the Duckworth-Lewis Stern system calculations!