IND vs SA 1st Test Weather Report: Rain Likely To Wash Out Day 1; Virat Kohli Joins Team India Squad After Attending Emergency At Home

Virat Kohli left South Africa almost a week from he first Test and join the Men in Blue in Centurion only on December 24, two days before the first ball of the opening Test.

Rain in Centurion as Kohli yet to arrive. (Image: X/ANI)

The first Test between India and South Africa at Centurion is not far away. The Boxing Day Test will be marred with rain, said PTI in a report. At least the opening day of the Test match will see heavy rain and all the three sessions on the first day may get washed out too. If comments from curator of Supersport Park Bryan Bloy is to go by, it looks highly unlikely to get any play on the opening day of the Test due to inclement weather.

As per Accuweather, there is a 96 percent chance of rain in Centurion on the opening day of the Test match. "Temperature will be super low, like 20 degrees. The temperature is now 34 and it will drop to 20. I don’t know what conditions will be like, whether we will get play on Day 1," Bloy told PTI.

R Ashwin is highly unlikely to start  on the first day due to the conditions. Bloy said that there should be some play after first day but will be very cool. He also stated that he does not know how much turn will be available for the spinners. However, he mentioned that batting first will be a tough task due to the overcast conditions.

"I can’t guarantee the forecast but if it remains under cover for the better part of the two days then that might be tricky to bat first, because its been covered for so long and hasn’t been rolled for so long, we don’t know how long we will have to get the field ready for play in current situation. So if it’s a Day-3, 10 am start, it doesn’t give us much time, because it’s in the morning and you start playing at 10 and really three hours of cool weather and early morning will be tricky. If its covered for two days, I would presume bowlers would benefit from it," said Bloy.

But Bloy says that he does not know how much of help the pitch will be for spinners as the game is likely to see rain interference on first two days of the Test. "That will be tricky, because you are seeing a forecast on Day 1 and Day 2. It looks awful. The sun is out for four days and so there will be some purchase for spinners, offer turn and bounce, with weather forecast, I don’t know how accurate it will be as there will be a lot of rain," said Bloy.

An update from Centurion
Virat Kohli has NOT rejoined the team yet. He is supposed to arrive from his destination in Johannesburg tomorrow. Whether he will join training tomorrow will be notified later. Repeating he has NOT arrived in SA.#ViratKohli_ — Kushan Sarkar (@kushansarkar) December 23, 2023

Kohli joins team in Centurion

As per reports, Kohli had left for either London or back home due to some medical emergency. Till the morning of Sunday, he was yet to join the Team India squad in Centurion with just two days remaining in the Test. It was reported that Kohli was likely to arrive in Johannesburg on December 24. This is exactly what happened as the batter began his training session after attending the emergency back home.

(The report was updated with latest update of Kohli joining the team)