England will take on India in the fourth Test at Old Trafford in Manchester, starting Wednesday, July 23, which has surprisingly been wet the whole week leading up to the game. It has been an unusual summer in England, dry and hot with measly rains, however, Manchester has witnessed rains and showers throughout the week and it seems to be bleeding into the match week as well. The teams have mostly trained indoors with the rain around, however, to start off, the interruptions might not be as frequent.
As per Accuweather, it will be overcast throughout the first day in Manchester on Wednesday, with a passing shower in the afternoon on the horizon. At around 2 PM local time (6:30 PM IST), there is a prediction of a mild shower with the probability of precipitation rising to 54 per cent suddenly from six per cent an hour ago. The radar shows mostly cloudy for the rest of the day, which suggests that there might be a short interruption or two but a timely start is on the cards on the opening day.
As per weather.com, the probability of precipitation hovers around single digits throughout the day, indicating a cloudy but dry day. If the weather forecast for all five days is looked at, there are similar isolated showers on the radar on Day 2 as well as Day 5, but with the weather staying overcast for the most part, a result is very much on the cards.
The images of the surface that were revealed by the broadcaster, as well as the local reportage, suggest a little more helpful wicket for the bowlers, which was the case at Lord's by the time the Test match went into its fourth and fifth days. It is a critical game for the Indian team, especially since they are trailing three games into the series and with reduced bowling resources because of injuries. Hence, managing a balanced combination will also be an important task for Gautam Gambhir, Shubman Gill and Co., going into Manchester.
