NEW DELHI, India (CMC) — Dangerous Cyclone Hudhud has forced West Indies to delay their travel to Visakhapatnam, the venue for the third One-Day International, and has also put that game in doubt.
The weather system is expected to make landfall in the eastern coastal city today, bringing with it heavy rains and winds of up to 195 kilometres per hour. Huge waves had already begun to lash the city late yesterday.
West Indies were due to travel today but will remain here until the all clear is given.
India Meteorological Department officials have described the system as a “very severe cyclonic storm” and said there was “no chance of it weakening”.
Evacuations have already started in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha with thousands already moved away from the coast.
India Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level emergency meeting yesterday to review the country’s state of readiness to deal with the impact of the storm and its aftermath.
Though the adverse weather is expected to remain in the area for hours after the storm moves through the city, cricket officials in Visakhapatnam remain hopeful of putting on the third ODI once conditions clear in time.
Andhra Cricket Association secretary Gokaraju Gangaraju said the pitch and the entire outfield at the ACA-VDCA Stadium were already under covers, and all the necessary machinery was on standby to begin mopping up operations.
He said patrons would be refunded if the game was washed out.
West Indies won the first ODI in Kochi by 124 runs last Wednesday and went down by 48 runs here yesterday, to leave the five-match series level at 1-1.
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Cyclone stalls Windies, puts ODI in doubt
