The ongoing T20 World Cup in Australia has been heavily affected by inclement weather, especially seen in Melbourne, where four matches were affected by rain, resulting in three washouts without a ball being bowled.

Though India and Bangladesh have been largely unaffected by rain in the tournament till now, there is now a threat of inclement weather affecting their Super 12 match at Adelaide Oval on Wednesday.

As per the Australian Government’s Bureau of Meteorology, who had predicted La Nina weather effect in the country for the third straight year, the skies in Adelaide will be cloudy on Wednesday, with 60 per cent chance of showers predicted for evening.

On the eve of the match, Adelaide was greeted by cold weather and rains, which made the capital of South Australia look like a city from Europe. Bangladesh cancelled their practice session for the day, while the Indian team were forced to practice indoors.

While acknowledging that India have been lucky to avoid running into rain on match days, head coach Rahul Dravid said his team is ready to counter the inclement weather if it makes the T20I match a truncated affair.

“From our general chat, (it) has always been to control what we can control. The weather and what is going to happen, unfortunately we can’t really control it. I think considering one, Afghanistan has been a bit unfortunate. They’ve missed two of the games have been washed out.

“We’ve been lucky, we’ve been able to play all three of our games for full 20 overs, so we’ve been lucky I’d say. But we can only control what we can control. If the weather tomorrow challenges us or forces us to play a 10-12 overs game, then we’ll respond accordingly.”

“We will play it like it is. You can’t go in thinking about it or planning for it. You don’t know how many overs it will be. So you go in thinking it will be a 20-over game, and you just respond accordingly, so we’ll control it as in when we get there,” said the former India captain in the pre-match press conference.

With rain bringing in chilly weather in Adelaide, it has also resulted in cricketers trying to play their best game on the field, especially with India and Bangladesh coming in from very different climes in the sub-continent.

“Not only for bowling or fielding, it will also be difficult for batting. It will be very difficult to adjust to that (cold weather). But as international players, in our careers, we have played in these kinds of conditions or different to them. They and we know how to manage it. We cannot deny the fact that it is cold, but we have to manage it. Both teams know how to manage it,” said Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan.

In the face of unfavourable weather and conditions, Shakib admitted that his team has no other option but to adjust to the surroundings greeting them at Adelaide Oval. “It is little difficult as we played out first game in Hobart, where it was very cold. For someone especially coming from the subcontinent, it was very cold.

“Then we went to Sydney, which was very nice weather wise. Brisbane was nice too. Now we are getting another (match) in cold weather. So we have to adjust, there is no other option other than to adjust. But I don’t think it will be a problem because we are mentally ready to play the game.”

But Shakib hopes that despite cold weather and rain forecast looming around, there remains scope for his team to enjoy playing the game. “Of course, I think it will be a full house, as we will be playing against India and they good crowd always playing in Australia or anywhere they go. It will be an exciting game and I hope our team will enjoy.”

India head coach Rahul Dravid said the side will wait to see how veteran wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik will be fitness-wise on the morning of their crucial Super 12 match against Bangladesh in the T20 World Cup at Adelaide before making a final decision on him being in the playing eleven.

In India’s five-wicket loss to South Africa at Perth on Sunday, Karthik had to walk off the field during South Africa’s run-chase of 134 due to a lower back injury. In his absence, Rishabh Pant took up keeping duties for the rest of the match, causing a doubt on Karthik’s availability for Wednesday’s match against Bangladesh at Adelaide Oval.

“He’s pulled up pretty well today. Unfortunately, he had that spasm when he jumped to collect a bouncer and then he landed badly, in a way that he did his back in a little bit. But with treatment and some days, he’s pulled up pretty well this morning. He’s come to training and so, we will be assessing it.

“We will see how it goes and how he pulls up tomorrow morning after a good practice session today. We will put him through his paces and ensure that we have given him a good workout and then see how he pulls up tomorrow morning before making a final decision,” said Dravid in the pre-match press conference.

Karthik made the cut for the T20 World Cup squad after producing some brilliant performances as a specialist finisher for Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2022. He then made a comeback into the India T20I squad as a designated finisher, where he did put in some sparkling performances in the chances he got.

With the Indian team management choosing to invest in his finishing skills in the shortest format of the game, Karthik hasn’t got enough time in the tournament to apply finishing touches to India’s innings.

He has batted only twice in the tournament, facing two balls against Pakistan, especially while facing spin bowling, which isn’t his forte. Against South Africa, Karthik arrived at the crease before the 10th over and though he shared a 52-run stand with a belligerent Suryakumar Yadav for the sixth wicket, he failed to fire, which was the case with almost all Indian batters.

“Again, tough for someone like DK, to assess how he’s gone. You don’t get to play too many games; he got one ball against Pakistan at the back end and didn’t bat against Netherlands. I thought he was building a pretty good partnership with Surya. At that stage, we needed a really good partnership just to stabilise us.

“It was set up for him, but again that’s the nature of this game. You play that high-risk shot and you can get out on that shot, which is why people need to be supported and backed as much as possibly can in these formats because people, especially in positions like DK batting at five and six, you don’t get enough balls (to play),” stated Dravid.

Though Karthik hasn’t been named in the squad for the three T20Is against New Zealand scheduled immediately after the T20 World Cup ends in Australia, Dravid signed off by saying the current think-tank will continue to back Karthik in coming good as a specialist finisher in the ongoing tournament.

“When you have to go (out) and deliver very high-risk shots without having much time to settle in, our belief has always been to back and support players in those positions. Come the critical time, hopefully he will be in the right frame of mind to play those crunch shots for us.”