Will rain stop play?

England���s cricket captain Kevin Pietersen deserves to be commended for leading from the front and persuading reluctant senior players like Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison to return to India to play two Tests after the ODI series was suspended in the wake of the terrorist attack on Mumbai.

Former England cricket captain-turned-commentator David Gower has praised Pietersen for motivating his team to take a unanimous decision to return to India. England and Wales Cricket Board managing director David Morris, who briefed the players along with security consultant Reg Dickason, stated ���the team has made a courageous decision that will be respected across the world.���

However, this time around, play could be affected not by the human factor but by the natural one. This is the time of the year when India���s south-eastern coastal states like Tamil Nadu experience the north-east monsoon and cyclonic weather patterns keep occurring over the Bay of Bengal. Just a week ago, many roads in Chennai were covered in sheets of water.

Another cyclone has been forecast in the next 24 hours. There is a likelihood of play being affected at the M A Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. There have been quite a few instances over the last few years of ODIs being scheduled for Chennai in November-December and not being held because of the rain.

Which was why the first India ��� England Test on December 11 was scheduled for Ahmedabad and not Chennai which was chosen after the terrorist attack because the English team felt South India was safer and wanted to play in a city with regular outbound flights so that they could fly back home at the first sign of trouble.

It would perhaps have been better if the English team had agreed to the first Test being held at a venue which was not just safe but where play was unlikely to be affected by rain. If it rains in Chennai, the first Test will end up having only symbolic value!