Heavy and persistent rain in Guwahati abandoned the ICC World Cup 2023 warm-up fixture between India and holders England.

Hosts India, squaring off against defending champions England, won the toss and opted to bat first at the Barsapara Stadium, Guwahati.

However, before the action could begin, dark clouds began to downpour in Guwahati.

The cut-off time for the match was 7:30 PM (IST) but the officials called it off earlier than that as the rain returned 10 minutes before the scheduled start of play, which turned into thunderstorms and didn’t relent.

India are entering the ICC World Cup 2023 with momentum in their favour as Rohit Sharma’s men recently won the ACC Men’s Asia Cup 2023 and a three-match ODI series against Australia at home.

England, on the other hand, are fresh from their victories against Ireland and New Zealand. Furthermore, the holders got a major boost ahead of their title defence with the return of their dynamic all-rounder Ben Stokes, who recently smashed the highest individual ODI score for the nation.

Notably, Stokes played a pivotal role in England’s 2019 World Cup glory. His sensational 84-run knock in the final lifted England to force the match to the Super Over.

For the unversed, the warm-up matches do not have an ODI status since the competing teams have the luxury to utilize all 15 members of their squad.

Squads:

England: Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (c & wk), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood, Gus Atkinson, Reece Topley

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah

Meanwhile, another ICC World Cup 2023 warm-up fixture between Australia and Netherlands in Thiruvananthapuram was also delayed to due to heavy rainfall.

READ: New Zealand thump Pakistan in ICC World Cup 2023 warm-up match