Weather threatens a washout even as India look to extend their domination over Sri Lanka when the second part of the cricket series begins with the first Test in Chennai on Friday.
Much of the attention on cricket -- the island neighbours playing their first Test series in the subcontinent since 1997 and Sourav Ganguly returning to Greg Chappell's fold -- has been taken away by the forecast of a thunderstorm for the next four days.
The M A Chidambaram stadium, lying metres away from the Marina seashore, escaped the fury of the tsunami last December but Mother Nature has not been similarly kind in recent weeks.
The India-South Africa one-dayer was a total wash out a week ago, and a public petition charging the TNCA of "deliberate intention to deceive the gullible public" by holding matches in the monsoon period comes up for hearing on Thursday.
The cyclonic storm 'Bazz', lay centred 400 km east southeast off Chennai and is likely to cross the coast on Friday night between north Tamil Nadu and South Andhra Pradesh, Weather Office said in Vishakhapatnam.
High winds and gales up to speed of 80 to 90 kmph along the coastal area between Chennai and Machilipatnam are likely when the cyclone crosses the coast, the office here said. Fishermen were advised not to venture into the sea and officials hoisted danger signal level No 3 at Krishnapatnam, Nizampatnam and Machilipatnam ports, it said.
The Indians, however, seemed to go about their practice sessions with little thoughts on the weather.
V V S Laxman would like us to believe that the whole team was looking forward to Sachin Tendulkar's 35th Test hundred but, without doubting the suave Hyderabadi's words, one would know that it is Ganguly's place in the batting order that has kept the team management thinking.
That the match is not happening at Kolkata would be of little help for Chappell and captain Rahul Dravid as they seek to resolve the Ganguly riddle.
Teams (from):
India: Rahul Dravid (captain), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Sourav Ganguly, Mohammad Kaif, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wicket-keeper), Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, Murali Kartik, Anil Kumble, RP Singh
Sri Lanka: Marvan Atapattu (captain), Chaminda Vaas, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara (wicket-keeper), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Upul Tharanga, Thilan Samaraweera, Farveez Maharoof, Dilhara Fernando, Muttiah Muralitharan, Avishka Gunawardene, Lasith Malinga, Sajeewa Weerakoon, Jehan Mubarak
