India vs New Zealand, 2nd Test, Weather Forecast and Pitch Report of Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune
The second Test is scheduled to get underway in Pune on Thursday, October 24.
After the manner in which India were toppled over by New Zealand in the first Test at the Chinnaswamy, there has been much excitement brewing over the kicking off of the second game of the series in terms of how the hosts would react. There have been quite a lot of discussions which have been thrown around regarding the pitch and how India would want to leverage their home advantage and would want to make the most of the black soil track which the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium is set to offer.
A lot weighs upon the upcoming fixture with respect to the ongoing 2023-25 cycle of the World Test Championship as well. Despite going down in the first Test by an eight-wicket margin, India still retain the top spot with eight wins, three losses, and one draw in the 12 matches they have played. Their points tally is 98 and 68.06% points percentage.
However, Australia and Sri Lanka are not too far behind in terms of their respective PCTs (62.50% and 55.56% respectively). It will be a massive boost for both those teams, in particular, Sri Lanka, if India don't make full use of their chance to extend their league.
The Border-Gavaskar Trophy is coming up too. That is one series which cannot be taken for granted by India, despite them emerging victorious on the past two occasions of them travelling Down Under. Playing versus Australia is always a challenge, but playing Australia in Australia is a completely different proposition altogether. Hence, keeping that in mind, the second Test becomes all the more significant. However, it will be down to the weather conditions which Pune presents during the slated five days of the match.
Here's a look at the weather forecast expected in Pune for Day 1 of the second Test
As per AccuWeather, the first day is set to witness a "blend of sun and clouds". The temperature is expected to float around the early 30°Cs. The cloud cover reduces from 58% to 43% as the day transitions from morning to afternoon.
Despite there being cloud cover expected and a few grim clouds to flow over the stadium, the probablity of precipitation remains negligibly low at 1%. Hence, play is expected to be conducted without as many interruptions as we saw during the first Test, with the first day completely washed out due to rain.
In team news, India have added Washington Sundar to their ranks, New Zealand's Kane Williamson continues to be sidelined due to an injury to the groin.
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