India vs Australia, 1st ODI at Bengaluru, , Sep 29 2007 - Ball by Ball Commentary

9.55 pm: Game has been called-off. Suresh Shastri, one of the umpires, said : "We had a very good look of the ground, especially the playing area. The entire area is quite wet. We don't think it would dry before the cut-off time. So we have decided to call it off.

"We had a discussion with the two captains. The Australians were obviously keen to play but the decision is not either captain's." That's that.

On behalf of my co-commentator Siddhartha Vaidyanathan, this is Sriram Veera signing off. Ta!

9.48 pm No Indian players on the field. The Aussies are still hanging around there, though. The cut-off time is 10.03 pm. 15 minutes to go. As you would expect, the crowd is fairly quiet.

Jamie is still peering through his binoculars. ""The guy operating the SuperSopper looks highly bored. Just rolling back and forth all alone in one side of the field. Ah okay, now he's decided to plow through a few policemen, officials, and the pitch experts."

9.38 pm: A roar as Dhoni walks out from the pavillion. Dhoni and Gilchrist, with pads on, are now having a discussion with the two umpires. Dhoni not saying much, it's Gilchrist and Bucknor doing most of the talking. The camera operator has had enough of the three figures and swings to a pretty face in the crowd, which Jamie adds, " needless to say, generates some cheer."

Bucknor and one of the New Zealand pitch experts are rolling a cricket ball across the grass to see how much dew is collected. You can call that "Doing the Dew." Now Gilchrist chats with Suresh Shastri. Gilchrist now goes over to talk with his team-mates.

9.35 pm: Light drizzle resumes. The umpires and match referee are down there. Now the covers are being put over the pitch. "Meanwhile Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson and Brad Hogg are going through a gentle bowling session on the side of the square, " informs Jamie. ""And Lee's sprayed the ball wide of the catcher with the baseball mit and its spilled over the tarp down at mid-on."

9.30 pm: Jamie: "One side of the pitch, basically midwicket if you like, is still damp so the groundstaff have brought out the covers for that spot. It will easily be another half hour, I'd say. Now its the same for the other side as a very light drizzle resumes."

9.15 pm Excellent work by the groundstaff, informs Jamie. The damp areas have all but cleared up. The pitch inspection is at 9.30 pm

9.00 pm: Loud cheers as the covers come off. The next pitch inspection is at 9.30 pm

8.35 pm: The drizzle has stopped. Loud cheers as one of the blue canopies covering the pitch is removed. The outfield is badly waterlogged and the Supersopper is in use.

Here is the Duckworth-Lewis equation. If the match is restricted to 26 overs, India's revised target would be 201.

26 overs: 201 runs

27 overs: 207

28 overs: 212

29 overs: 218

30 overs: 223

31 overs: 228

Thanks to all of you who took part in Fantasy Cricket during the ICC World Twenty20. That contest is now over and congratulations to 'Nikunj 85', the winner of the overall competition, and to 'Panjo' and 'Ammarz7', for securing the first and second runner-up positions.

We have more fantasy cricket excitement coming your way. We now have entries open for the India-Australia Series and the Sri Lanka-England ODI series, which will start on Monday. Register here.

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8.23 pm: It has started to drizzle again. Arrgh. Musical chairs.

8.20 pm local time: Good news. It has stopped raining. The umpires are out there to inspect the ground. The covers are still on. It doesn't look too positive. The ground staff are sponging the water off the area. It doesn't look too good.

7.50 pm local time 10.03 pm is the cut-off time. If they can't get play underway by 10.03 pm, the game will be called-off. We need to get at least 17.02 overs more to get a result. It's still raining there, though.

Dave, a feedbacker, responds to the Cardus anecdote. He wonders what the entry of Mrs Cardus would have been for that wedding night. Ah!

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All this breezer analogy about Twenty20 reminds me of a story from the legendary writer Neville Cardus' life. From his Autobiography:

"There are many things about cricket, apart from the skill and the score. There is, first of all, the leisure to do something else. Cricket, like music, has its slow movements, especially when my native county of Lancashire is batting. I married the good companion who is my wife during a Lancashire innings. The event occurred in June 1921; I went as usual to Old Trafford, stayed for a while and saw Hollows and Makepeace come forth to bat. As usual they opened with care. Then I had to leave, had to take a taxi to Manchester, there to be joined in wedlock at a registry office. Then I - that is, we - returned to Old Trafford. While I had been away from the match and had committed the most responsible and irrevocable act in a mortal man's life, Lancashire had increased their total by exactly seventeen - Makepace 5, Hallows 11, and one leg-bye. "

Cardus wouldn't have dared leave a Twenty20 game.

7.45 pm local time: It's still a pretty heavy drizzle out there. Dileep Premachandran informs that "they're showing the Twenty20 highlights on the giant screen to keep the crowd happy."

7.30 pm local time: No luck. It's still raining. While you wait, why don't you try your luck at the Slogout game.

Dave, from Australia, chips in: "Test cricket is a nice bottle of Scotch, sipped slowly and savoured. ODIs are pints, a good night at the pub. Twenty20 is a Bacardi Breezer, slammed down fast and you wake up the next morning wondering what happened."

Update 7.10 pm local time: It's pelting down at the Chinnaswamy now. Chances of any resumption appear distant but this city's weather is too fickle. Don't even think of predicting it.

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It's raining too heavily now. The umpires stop play and the covers come on. Tendulkar can only wonder the timing of his dismissal but he was up against a good ball. Irfan Pathan is yet to face a ball. But the stadium is getting wet.

Sidharth Monga chimes in: "India will be left with a target in 20 overs and, being Twenty20 heroes, will achieve anything." Such thoughts. Such hopes.

Pat from Brazil is yawning : "After the recent and exciting Twenty20 the present match does seems drawn out and boring. Don't know what the Test matches would be like.. Bring on more Twenty20."

The umpires discuss the rain situation. Strangely they decide to play on. This is quite heavy now

Raining heavily now. The ground staff are ready to bring the covers on.

Mitchell Johnson to share the new ball

India have an uphill task of 308 to get but they might consider going after a few weak links in the Australian attack. James Hopes has just nine one-dayers under his belt and the part-time offerings from Michael Clarke and Andrew Symonds could be targetted as well. For Australia, Brett Lee, Stuart Clark and Brad Hogg could be the key. Hogg, ever under-rated, could well be the lynchpin.

Meanwhile you can try out Cricinfo's Fantasy League Game by clicking here. Trust me, it does get addictive.

Stuart Clark is set to open the bowling and in case you want to read more about him check out Nagraj Gollapudi's interview here. The headline says it all: New Pidge on the block.

In case you need to download desktop alerts, this is what you're looking for.

Jamie Alter has woken up from his slumber. ""Canary yellow followed by the Indian openers, Tendulkar and Gambhir." Sounds interesting. Time to start screaming again. Some drizzle in the air. Bret Lee to start off