5 times rain ruined an India-Australia encounter

Over the past three decades or so, India and Australia have been engaged in some bruising battles in both Tests and limited overs cricket, which is why a game that is affected by rain is almost always frowned upon by cricket fans from both countries and beyond. At the end of the day, cricket fans want to watch a game that is played in its entirety without the elements interfering in the game.

Rains rob a side of the chance to enforce the advantage in a Test match and allows the side on the wrong side of the proceedings escape with a draw. On the other hand, a perfectly balanced game is often ruined due to rain and last but not the least, when it comes to limited overs cricket, rains can often hand one side with a significant advantage due to the rules in place for adjusting targets if the match is interrupted. So here are 5 cricket matches between India and Australia in which rain played spoilsport.

#5 1st ODI, Chennai 2017, India won by 26 runs (DLS)

In this game, Australia had India on the mat at 87-5 and through a remarkable recovery by the combined efforts of MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, India reached 281 in 50 overs. On a slightly up and down pitch, the target was a challenging one and promised a closely fought game.

However, the rain started just before the Australian reply was about to start and the chase was eventually reduced to 21 overs and the target for the Australians was reduced to 164 by the Duckworth-Lews-Stern method. Although the task became easier for the visitors, a 50 over game was reduced to virtually a T20 and sucked out much of the fun associated with an ODI game.

Australia eventually collapsed and India won but a game that could have been a classic ODI was ruined by rain.