Rain gods made their presence felt and played an instrumental role in washing out the series opener between Virat Kohli-led Team India and Sri Lanka at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati. Indian pace ace Jasprit Bumrah, who was sidelined four months due to stress fractures in his back was named in the playing eleven by skipper Kohli after winning the toss and opting to bowl in the first international T20I of the new season.
Sadly for the fans, their superlative effort to lit the entire stadium in the build-up to the first T20I of the three-match series went in vain as match officials abandoned the Guwahati match without a ball being bowled. Thanks to the wet outfield, damp patches on the match pitch made the decision more difficult for the referees to even conduct a five-over match, something the fans were desperately hoping in the eleventh hour after rain had already played spoilsport in Assam.
As Guwahati has not been a regular when it comes to hosting games of the Men In Blue, several noteworthy attempts were made by the supporting staff to revive the 22-yard strip at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium. Speaking about the endeavours of the match officials, the groundsmen deployed vacuum cleaners to eliminate the damp patches residing on the match pitch. Not only vacuum driers, steam irons and hair dryers were also used in order to dry the wet surface.
