The city is usually so scant of rainfall, but when the skies finally open up, it promptly coincides with an international cricket match. Though the current cloudburst might not match the magnitude of cyclone Nisha, there could be a few lingering clouds of concern ahead and through the course of the India’s first ODI against Pakistan. It’s a sort of rain that irritates you, a sickly, spitting rain that pries on your patience, not one that makes you scamper for shelter. Tales of rain-afflicted matches date back to the inaugural Ranji match at this venue—between Mysore and Madras (November 4, 1934). Woefully for the tourists, overnight rain had left the strip so sticky that the match was dusted in five and a half hours on the opening day, with the hosts triumphing by an innings and 23 runs. Rain has also come to torment many a match, rather regularly in the last decade. The Test against South Africa in 2008 was hardly marred by the mischief-prone rain (rather by a lazy strip that never woke up) mainly because it was held in late March, when the summer was at its peak.
It’s the October-December bracket that is disconcerting. Coastal districts account the maximum rainfall because of the northeast monsoon, or the retreating southwest monsoon. Resultantly, the matches held during these months have been affected by rain. The 1995 Test against New Zealand (October) at Chepauk was the shortest in terms of actual playing time (71.1 overs). The next Test match in October, though it yielded a result (against West Indies in 2002), was sprinkled with bouts of drizzle and bad light. While an intriguing final day against Australia, which in hindsight could have prevented Australia in surmounting the final frontier, was washed out in 2004 October.
Also Cyclone Baaz swept the first three days of the against Sri Lanka in 2005. Similarly, the ODI against New Zealand (Oct 2003) saw only 26.5 overs of the Indian innings being bowled as the next one against South Africa was abandoned without a ball being bowled. Rain threatened to truncate the India-England Test in December 2008, the last Test here, as well. It rained heavily before the skies cleared out on the eve of the match, and thus enabled play for full five days, producing a memorable Test for India. Only such a retreat of clouds could guarantee at least a curtailed match. Mostly, the city longs for rain, but it now longs for glorious sunshine.