WTC final: Rain washes off opening day's play

Southampton: Incessant rain saw the opening day's play in the World Test Championship final between India and New Zealand at the Ageas Bowl being called off without a ball being bowled on Friday.

Taking to Twitter, BCCI wrote: "UPDATE - Unfortunately, play on Day 1 has been called off due to rains. 10.30 AM local time start tomorrow. #WTC21." The first session of the opening day of the World Test Championship final was already washed off. And with rain finally stopping in the second session, an inspection was set to take place at 3 pm local time -- 7:30 pm IST.

Taking to Twitter, BCCI wrote: "UPDATE -- It has stopped raining and there will be an inspection at 3 PM local and 7.30 PM IST. #WTC21."

But unfortunately, it started raining again around 7:10 pm IST. Before this, there was no rain for a period of close to 50 minutes. R. Ashwin's wife Prithi Narayanan took to Twitter to share the video of the ground along with her kids and wrote, "Rain has stopped. Fans are happy. I can hear the dol and happy singing. And @ashwinravi99 is going to do what he needs to do -- have lunch."

In the morning, India's spin spearhead Ashwin had also shared the view of Ageas Bowl when it was raining before the scheduled start of play. "The camera also has a raincoat," wrote Ashwin on Instagram while sharing a video of the ground.

Rain is forecasted on all five days of the game and that has seen the ICC add a reserve day on June 23. In case of a no-result, the Test Championship title will be shared. "The Reserve Day has been scheduled to ensure five full days of play, and it will only be used if lost playing time cannot be recovered through the normal provisions of making up lost time each day. There will be no additional day's play if a positive result is not achieved after five full days of play and the match will be declared a draw in such a scenario," the ICC release on the playing conditions read.