Thiruvananthapuram: All preparations for the Twenty20 International (T20I) against New Zealand to be held here on Tuesday have been completed. The Indian team, led by skipper Virat Kohli, has arrived in the state capital. The NZ team too landed early in the morning in a chartered flight.
This is the first ever T20I to be staged in Kerala and is being held at the Greenfield Stadium, which was the venue of the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2015 National Games.
Rain threat looms large
The meteorological office has predicted that the weather will be generally cloudy with a few spells of rain or thundershowers starting from Sunday till Wednesday.
Jayesh George, secretary of the Kerala Cricket Association , told IANS that the art ICC- and FIFA-compliant stadium located in the city has excellent drainage facilities.
"The super soppers and other facilities are all there and even if it rains during the match time, in 10 minutes after the rain stops, the match will be able to resume," said George.
The state capital is staging an international cricket match after a gap of almost three decades when the Vivian Richards led West Indies side played the last of the seven ODI matches against India here on January 25, 1988 at the University Stadium.
The Caribbean side smashed the Indian side led by Ravi Shastri, the present Indian coach, by winning by nine wickets.
Kohli to launch anti-drugs campaign
On Monday afternoon, a few Indian players, including captain Virat Kohli, took part in a program of the Kerala government, 'Say yes to Cricket, No to Drugs', which was inaugurated by chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
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