Cricket
India v South Africa Day 5: Weather may play spoilsport as India look to break Centurion jinx
Despite there being no rain on Day 4, there is rain predicted for Day 5. India need 6 wickets to win, South Africa need 211 runs.
The Indian cricket team is hoping for a weather break on Thursday, Day 5 of the 1st Test (BCCI)
Having restricted South Africa to 94/4 chasing a target of 305 runs at the end of Day 4 in the 1st Test, India will be looking forward to day 5 of the ongoing Test match series.
However, there is a catch. It has been predicted that day five of the first Test match will see heavy rain and possible thunderstorms taking place which could definitely jeopardize India's chances of winning the first Test match.
India vs South Africa Test Day 5: Weather
As per the Gauteng weather report for Thursday, 30th December 2021, the expected minimum temperature is 17 degrees Celsius while the expected maximum temperature is 32 degrees Celsius. As it stands, there is currently a forecast for a sunny morning and windy afternoon with no signs of rain clouds heading in. It seems as though Day 5 will go ahead as per schedule.
According to Accuweather, there's a 65% chance of precipitation during the afternoon on Day 5 of the Test with two hours of rain predicted. Furthermore, there's a 39% chance of a thunderstorm.
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These forecasts are enough to be a cause of concern in the Indian cricket camp especially since the team has dominated the proceedings of the first Test since Day 1.
The cricket team came here to avenge a lot of what has happened over the past three months including the despicable performance in the T20 cricket World Cup. They would definitely be hoping to come away with a Test series win at least and if a draw is declared on day 5 this would this would hold their chances of winning the series completely.
India vs South Africa Day 5: Records
The highest fourth-innings total that has been recorded in the Centurion was by England in December 2019. The English test team made 268 runs while chasing a total of 376. The highest successful run chase was also by the English test team back in January 2000 when they managed to overcome the score of 250 in the 4th innings of the Test match.
None of the scores come close to the 305 run target that has been set for South Africa so the odds are definitely in India's favour if rain does not play spoilsport.
Another very notable statistic that favors India is that there has never been any test team in South Africa that has managed to chase down a target score excess of 350 runs in the 4th innings.
India's record at Centurion and South Africa
India has played a total of 39 matches in South Africa and has never won a test series out of the total 7 series played in the country. Out of the two matches that have been played at the Centurion, India has lost both to South Africa.
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Both the statistics are definitely not in favor of India given that South Africa has dominated every single test series and has also maintained its 100% record at the Centurion cricket ground against India. Moreover, South Africa also has its best home record at the Centurion ground, having played 26 matches in total winning 21 and losing only 2.
