In the highly anticipated India vs. England second-semifinal match on Thursday in Adelaide, rain may make an unwelcome entrance.

Following India’s previous performance in the ongoing T20 World Cup, when they only lost one game and placed first in their group, cricket fans are eagerly anticipating this encounter. However, rain could put a damper on things. At this time, there is a 20% chance that rain will fall and that the sky will remain cloudy.

“A little cloudy. 20% probability of a brief rain. thunderstorm potential this morning. winds 15 to 20 km/h out of the west to northwest, shifting to 15 to 25 km/h out of the southwest in the late afternoon “according to Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology’s Sunday prediction.

For the most part, Indian batters have been reliable. The line-up has been led by Virat Kohli (246 runs in five matches with three fifties) and Suryakumar Yadav (225 runs in five matches with three fifties).

With two successive fifty-scores in his last two games, KL Rahul has improved his form and amassed 123 runs in five games. With only 89 runs coming off his willow in five games, Rohit Sharma has mostly been erratic, with his best total coming against the Netherlands (53 runs).

To relieve some of the strain on the middle order, these two will need to perform at their absolute best.

India’s seasoned pacers, Bhuvneswar Kumar (4 wickets), Mohammad Shami (6 wickets) and Arshdeep Singh (10 wickets) have been impressive so far in this T20 WC.

The spin veteran Ravichandran Ashwin and all-rounder Hardik Pandya (six and eight wickets respectively) have delivered well with the ball whenever captain needed the breakthrough, though Pandya has not found much success with the bat, other than his knock of 40 against Pakistan.

The Super 12 stage has been up and down for England. After defeating Afghanistan, their hopes of qualifying for the tournament diminished after a defeat to Ireland, and their match against Australia was called off.

But they returned to the competition after winning games against Sri Lanka and New Zealand, and they will now face India.

The strength of England’s batting order, which goes all the way down to number 10, is depth. Power hitters like Jos Buttler, Alex Hales, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, and Harry Brook, who can strike bowlers from the first ball, are in their lineup. At Adelaide, where batting-friendly conditions are prevalent and boundaries are small, they may be deadly.

England’s bowling unit has stepped up drastically, despite not being rated high initially. Sam Curran is England’s leading wicket-taker with 10, while Mark Wood has nine. Ben Stokes has also proved to be useful, having picked up five scalps at an economy rate of 5.90 per over.

They do have some concerns though, be it the fitness of left-hander Dawid Malan or pacer Wood or the performance of Chris Woakes, who has been expensive throughout the tournament. Spinners have also been disappointing. Though Adil Rashid has been a miser while bowling, he has taken only one wicket in four matches.

(inputs from ANI)