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In the early morning, the weather was misty, but dense fog soon started descending reducing the visibility levels to around 200 metres, a MeT official said Chandigarh.
The PCA stadium, where the match starts in the afternoon, was covered by thick fog and the maximum temperature also came down and was hovering around 12-13 degrees Celsius at about 10 a.m. It had rained heavily in Mohali and adjoining places on Thursday and Friday, but the weather cleared up in the subsequent days, with plenty of sunshine.
Yesterday too, it was a bright, with the maximum temperature settling around 20 degrees Celsius. "We are still hoping that by afternoon the fog should lift and we should have a good game of cricket," a PCA official said.
Chandigarh's Meteorological Department Director Surinder Paul said that foggy conditions would prevail for most part of the day, but visibility should improve later in the day. "It should be somewhat better in the afternoon and visibility will improve," he said.
BCCI's choice of venue appears to be absolutely ridiculous, given the fact that dense fog and extreme cold conditions are not a rarity during this time of the year in the northern parts of the country. The next match is supposedly to be held in Dharamsala where conditions are already freezing after fresh snowfall. Sad to see that in India personal egos, nasty politics takes over simple logic in decision making. Prices of tickets in Mohali are on the higher side and it would be disappointing to witness a cut-short match. While the elements are beyond your control, but these are certainly not beyond prediction especially when they occur annually.
