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Rain keeps final hopes alive

Rain played spoilsport as the tri-series cricket match between India and Australia was on Monday abandoned with the two teams sharing the points, which left the visiting side in with a chance to make it to the final.

After being put into bat, India were 69 for two after 16 overs when play was stopped due to rain at 5pm local time and after a wait of three hours the umpires decided to call off the match. The two teams take two points each from on Monday’s match, which means that the final league game between India and England on January 30 at the WACA in Perth will be a straight knockout for a chance to play Australia in the final on February 1 at the same venue.

Unbeaten Australia, who have 15 points after on Monday’s no result, have already qualified for the final while winless India and England have two and five points respectively. A team gets four points for a win. India had lost to Australia and England in their first-leg matches of the double round robin format tournament.

The start of the match was delayed by 40 minutes due to drizzle since morning and there was first rain interruption at 3:30 pm local time when India were six for no loss in 2.4 overs. Play resumed with India losing the struggling Shikhar Dhawan for eight in the seventh over and then Ambati Rayudu for 23 in the 13th over. Dhawan was caught by Aaron Finch at slips off the bowling of Mitchell Starc as the Indian opener dabbed at a delivery that bounced a bit extra from a good length just outside the off-stump without any movement of his feet.

Ambati Rayudu was dismissed off the bowling of Marsh with David Warner taking a sensational catch. The Indian batsman had charged and slashed at the ball, carving it high over the infield on the off side and Warner ran from the cover to take a well-judged catch. India scored just seven runs from the next 3.1 overs before rain stopped play.

Fans blast shifting of ODI from Adelaide

South Australia’s cricket fans blasted the decision to move Monday’s ODI between Australia and India to Sydney after the game was stopped just 15 minutes because of rain. Fans took to social media to vent their frustration at Cricket Australia (CA) over the decision to move the match from Adelaide, where the weather was fine, to Sydney, which resulted in play being stopped almost immediately due to the weather, reports news.com.au.

There were only 2.4 overs played in Monday’s match between Australia and India before rain forced a halt to proceedings, and the covers were rushed out over the pitch. The Australia Day match has traditionally been played in Adelaide before it was stripped from the city by the sport’s governing body in June last year. The decision to move the match to Sydney looks even more dubious after 52,633 fans packed the Adelaide Oval to watch the Big Bash League semi-final between the Adelaide Strikers and Sydney Sixers Saturday. “The cricket would be underway with a full house, if Cricket Australia had scheduled it where it should have been played. #farce,” Kate Bartlett tweeted.
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