New Zealand vs India – match abandoned
India’s white-ball tour of New Zealand began with the first T20I in Wellington being washed out without a toss.
Both sides were consigned indoors due to continuous rain. Barring a very short dry spell, it was wet throughout.
That was disappointing news for the fans in attendance at the Sky Stadium, which was set to host its first men’s T20I match in 20 months.
Even while it was drizzling, on-field umpires Chris Brown and Wayne Knights seemed to be inspecting the outfield to gauge the earliest time a match could start once the rain stopped.
However, that never happened, with the game called off at 8.52pm local time, roughly 54 minutes before the cut-off time for a five-over shootout.
The T20I series now moves to Mount Maunganui for the second match on Sunday, after which the teams will move to Napier for the third T20I on Tuesday.
A young India squad is being led by Hardik Pandya for the T20I series with many senior players rested. New Zealand are competing without Martin Guptill and Trent Boult with both sides looking to move on from their respective semi-final defeats at the T20 World Cup in Australia.