2023 World Cup weather update: Bengaluru weather report for November 9 for New Zealand vs Sri Lanka match
New Zealand will look to snap their losing streak to keep their semi-final hope alive when they square off against Sri Lanka at M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday.
Sri Lanka had a dismal run in the marquee tournament. They are currently strangled in the ninth spot with two wins from eight matches. The Lankans will hope to bow out with a win to keep their hope alive of making it to the 2025 Champions Trophy.
New Zealand, on the other hand, lost the plot after winning the first four games. Since losing against India in Dharamsala by four wickets, they have lost three more games and have eight points from as many matches.
With Pakistan and Afghanistan also on eight points each, the Kiwis need to win by a comfortable margin to retain the fourth spot. Although a defeat today would not knock New Zealand out of the tournament, the Kiwis will have to rely on other results to make it to the semi-finals.
While there is a lot to play for both teams, the weather in Bengaluru remains a cause of worry. It has been raining relentlessly in the southern state of India for the past few days. There have been reports of water logging in several parts of the city.
According to Accuweather, there is a 50 percent chance of precipitation in the afternoon between 1-4 pm IST, with thunderstorms in the forecast. At 6.00 p.m. IST, there is over a 65 percent chance of showers. Thus, a start-stop encounter is anticipated, while a full 100 overs of cricket looks blim as of now.
The temperature, meanwhile, will be on the lower side, hovering around 24 to 26 degrees Celsius. It would remain mostly cloudy throughout the day, while the humidity would also be on the higher side.
"There are lots of things that we can't control and the weather is one of those" - New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson
New Zealand have had plenty of injury concerns throughout the ODI World Cup. But, as things look, they have put it behind them and have a full squad at their disposal for the Sri Lanka clash, barring Matt Henry, who has been ruled out.
The 2019 World Cup finalists will hope to fire all cylinders and trump an underconfident Sri Lankan team, but only if the weather pans out well.
Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson, however, is not bothered by the uncontrollable and wants to focus on the game.
"There are lots of things that we can't control and the weather is one of those," Williamson said ahead of the Sri Lanka fixture. "There's been a lot of weather around and it could look different tomorrow. So, we'll just have to play what's in front of us and focus on our skills as a batting and bowling unit, whether that's looking to be aggressive or trying to handle some death overs as well as we can."
"Or with the bat, assessing conditions and trying to do the job and building those partnerships. But at the end of the day, our focus will be on the cricket that we want to play and trying to put all our focus and energy into that. That gives us the best chance of putting out a good performance. And so that'll be what we try and do," he added.
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