India considered walking out on its rain-affected tour match in Canberra and heading straight to Melbourne before a ball was even bowled on Monday.
The Indian camp was said to be panicking in the morning, with rain threatening its final preparations before the four-Test series against Australia starting on Boxing Day at the MCG.
Manuka Oval head curator Brad Van Dam was spoken to by liaison officials for the Indian team and told that coach Duncan Fletcher was seriously contemplating getting his team on the first plane out of Canberra and abandoning the scheduled three-day game against a Chairman's XI side.
India feared rain was predicted for the majority of the week in the nation's capital and Fletcher requested an urgent meeting with Van Dam at 10:30am (AEDT) on the ground.
However, Van Dam said the situation had calmed by the time he talked with Fletcher, and the Indian coach was happy to trust the curator's judgement that rain would likely clear for Tuesday and Wednesday.
"A few people were just in panic stations ... obviously there was talk in the hotel or something," said Van Dam.
"They looked at the wrong forecast and put one and one together and got three.
"(Fletcher) was good about it, he goes 'what's the weather?'
"I said, 'weather is going to die down, the rain's going to clear and we'll get on.'
"Then he wanted to know what time we'd get on (with play delayed from the scheduled 11:00am AEDT start).
"I said, I don't know we'll have to check with the umpires and we all made the call for 1:40pm (and that's when we got on).
"He was fine."
Had the issue not died down and India did jump town, it would not have pleased Cricket Australia.
They have incumbent Test players David Warner, Usman Khawaja and Phil Hughes, as well as Boxing Day aspirants Ed Cowan and Doug Bollinger on deck for the Chairman's XI.
Rain continued to interrupt play on Monday but Van Dam remains confident the conditions will clear for the remaining two days.
India is desperate for key players to get some much needed match practice under its belts ahead of Melbourne, particularly experienced fast bowler Zaheer Khan who is making his return from an ankle injury.
The side was obviously thinking that if the inclement weather was going to stick around in Canberra, it would get a better hit-out in the nets at the MCG.
Fletcher was seen inspecting the Manuka Oval surface himself before speaking to Van Dam at 10:30am.
He then returned to the team hotel to rejoin his players and wait out the delayed start of play.
AAP
Tags: cricket, sport, canberra-2600, act, australia, india First posted December 19, 2011 16:32:26
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