Weather Woes Loom Over T20 World Cup Final As Barbados Prepares For Tropical Storm

Barbados faces potential disruption from a building tropical storm as India and South Africa brace for the T20 World Cup Final. Despite a scheduled match on Saturday, concerns rise over patchy rain and thunderstorms predicted early in the day, affecting toss strategies. Writes Meenakshi Rao

Barbados:A tropical storm is building up in Barbados which steps into its official hurricane season on July 1, Monday.

Though the match is scheduled for Saturday and will pre-empt the storm by two days, there is a heavy likelihood of patchy rain on Saturday when India play South Africa in the Big Final of the T20 World Cup 2024, especially with the storm often being shifty.

According to accuweather.com, the weather conditions on Saturday (June 29) are going to be "cloudy, breezy and humid with a couple of showers and a thunderstorm, mainly early in the day". It also shows 47 per cent probability of thunderstorms with a cloud cover of 99 per cent.

This brings the toss into contention. However, if the match cannot be held on June 29 or June 30, which is a reserve day, India and South Africa will be announced joint winners.

The Rohit Sharma-led Indian team and the Aiden Markram-led South African team have been unbeaten in the tournament so far. While the Men in Blue defeated defending champions England in a lop-sided semi-final in Guyana by 68 runs to make to the summit clash, South Africa beat Afghanistan in the first semi-final.

For the record, this will be South Africa's maiden final in any ICC World Cup and they would be keen to win the coveted Trophy.