As heavy rains played spoilsport during India vs New Zealand match at World Cup, the social media has been abuzz with memes. People are posting pictures of cricketers playing match under the pool.
Interestingly, a joke taking rounds clarifies that on the point's table rain although not present on the list, still manages to top the list with 8 points with New Zealand with 7 points, Australia with 6 points and India with 5 points.
Twitter just went berserk ahead of the clash. While some vented out their anger for not being able to watch the much planned match, others tickled a funny bone or two.
Memes like Johnhy Lever holding a knife and asking "Match Kidhar hai?" (Where's the match happening?) went viral on social media.
Another meme where cricketers were seen playing underwater went with a caption, "The perfect way to play cricket in England."
One more meme went viral where Priyanka Chopra was seen coming to the rescue of fans with her gown and covering the stadium.
As actor Danish Sait put it, " I'd love to meet that guy who stood up in the ICC meeting and said, 'Sir, I have a great idea, let's do the World Cup in England'"
Apart from memes, poor scheduling of the match has come under intense criticism. Both New Zealand and Indian fans were grumpy.
Indian fans who have flown down to Nottingham from various parts of the world, were hit hard when the match was abandoned. This came as a disappointment for many as the best two teams were ready to clash offering a great match.
As former English batsman Michael Vaughan says, "It's dry in Southampton !!! I am not joking.... We might see some cricket !!!! #CWC19". If only ICC Officials focussed on planning the schedule and venue of World Cup 2019 as much as they focus on MS Dhoni's gloves.
India vs New Zealand was supposed to take place in Nottingham on Thursday but the cricket World Cup group match got abandoned due to the heavy rains. It has been raining in Nottingham for last two days and there has been incessant shower across United Kingdom.
As the match was already four and half hours beyond schedule, the organisers finally decided to abandon the match. This is the fourth match in this World Cup, and the third match in the last 4 days that has been called off due to unplayable weather conditions.
The two teams have played each other on 106 occasions in ODIs, but while India boast a better record overall, New Zealand lead 4-3 in earlier World Cups.
Already, with four of the 18 matches thus far washed out, this edition of the World Cup has turned out to be the wettest one in the history.
Back in the day in 1999 when England hosted the world cup they provided for a reserve day for all matches. Luckily, barring the match between India and England, which was carried over to the next day, the weather God was kind enough to ensure that rains, if at all, fell after the playing hours.
However, this time around, no reserve day has been provided for league matches. And this drawing up of the schedule with a kamikaze spirit had led to India vs NZ match, Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka, South Africa vs West Indies (after 7.3 overs) and Pakistan vs Sri Lanka being abandoned.
ICC Chief Executive David Richardson has made it clear that having reserve days in the group stages would have been a logistical nightmare, and has also has thrown light on how the unpredictable English weather has struck this time.
