Saturday’s pink ball party parked

And just like that what was supposed to be a twoday warmup game with a pink ball has now been reduced to a 50oversaside affair at the Manuka OvalRohit Sharmarsquos Indians as much as a Prime Ministerrsquos XI led by Jack Edwards and the Indian diaspora in the Australian capital were looking forward to this daynight encounter with great anticipation but the elements proved a dampener on Saturday forcing play to be called off without a ball being bowledHonouring the PMIt had been raining almost incessantly from late on Friday night mdash not lashing showers but drizzles oscillating between the mild and the more severe mdash and there was little chance of play even when the morning dawned bleak and dreary The only reason the two teams went to the ground in the first place was to honour a commitment to meet Anthony Albanese the Prime Minister of Australia who had hosted the teams on Thursday evening and who handed over caps to the players in the PMrsquos XIOz PM Anthony Albanese is gifted a signed hat by India captain Rohit Sharma on Saturday PicGetty ImagesIn normal course the weather would have provided welcome relief to Canberra residents who had been in the throes of a heat wave until earlier this week But their delight when the Indians touched down here from Perth on Wednesday night gave way to disappointment when after repeated inspections the umpires decided to call off play at 630 pm local timeAlso ReadItrsquos fans and frolic as excited crowd turns Manuka Oval into mini IndiaBy mutual consent the teams agreed to play a oneday game weather permitting on the morrow more to keep the crowd entertained than to get any meaningful practice This was meant to be Indiarsquos only run out in a competitive setting before the pinkball Test in Adelaide from December 6 and though the batters in particular have been deprived the chance of acclimatising to a somewhat heavier ball because of the pronounced lacquer all is not doom and gloomWeather woes persistCanberra hasnrsquot had a great relationship with international sides in recent times This February West Indies played a ODI against Steve Smithrsquos Australians but the daynight contest lasted exactly 31 overs Xavier Bartlett the rightarm fastmedium bowler who had debuted just four nights previously grabbed four for 21 to send Shai Hopersquos men crashing to 86 all out in just 241 overs Jake FraserMcGurk then cut loose smashing five fours and three sixes on his way to an 18ball 41 that muscled the hosts home with 431 overs to spare As delighted as the home crowd was with the result it felt it hadnrsquot got its moneyrsquos worth given how quickly the noncontest endedNow they will hope for a clearer Sunday and at least a full 50over game The Indians are very popular visitors and even Albanese spent a fair amount of time exchanging notes with Rohit and Virat Kohli among others India did play whiteball internationals in Canberra during their full tour of Australia in 202021 ndash it was here that they registered their first win of the tour in the final ODI on December 2 and followed it up with another victory in the first T20I on December 4 mdash and will hopefully get another chance to entertain the fans on Sunday