Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5: Tuesday's matches to be played despite monstrous rains in Mumbai
The city of Mumbai continues to see incessant rainfall since early Tuesday morning and the city police has issued several warnings throughout the day, urging people to stay indoors unless absolutely necessary.
Several low lying areas have already been flooded and to make matters worse, a high tide is predicted around 4.30 pm IST. The Meteorological Department has predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall over the next 24 hours in Mumbai. The city's lifeline - local trains have been delayed and traffic has come to a standstill in several areas.
The city's civic officials believe Tuesday's monstrous downpour could be the heaviest and longest bout of rain since way back from July 26, 2005, when Mumbai was immobilized by continuous rainfall.
Amidst this typhoon like rainfall, Tuesday's Pro Kabaddi League matches are set to be played as per schedule.
Sportskeeda got in touch with the league's organizers who confirmed to us that a meeting was held and it was decided that matches will take place as per schedule. The officials are not expecting too many fans to show up in this weather but as per latest updates, the show will go on.
Bengaluru Bulls are set to play UP Yoddha in the first match while home side, U Mumba will take on the in-form Gujarat Fortunegaints later tonight. As per our sources, Bengaluru and UP have already reached the NSCI stadium. The players from both these teams are staying at a hotel in Bandra and hence have arrived at the venue much before time.
U Mumba and Gujarat Fortunegiants team are staying in Andheri and have already left for the stadium, despite their match slated to begin only after 9 pm. With rains showing no signs of slowing down, one can assume they will take at least 2-3 hours to reach the stadium.
Indian cricketing legend, Sachin Tendulkar who is a Mumbaikar through and through, took to Twitter to express his concern about the dangerous weather. He has urged everyone to stay at home rather than venture out during this unsafe period.
Amidst this chaos, one must credit Mumbai Police for attempting to control the situation on the ground while also regularly updating the citizens via Twitter. Since early morning, Mumbai Police have made sure to tweet out updates every 15 minutes and ensure everyone is kept in the loop about the situation. You can check out some of the tweets below.
Also read: Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5 : Bengaluru Bulls captain, Rohit Kumar slams referee for showing red card to Ravinder Pahal