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England and New Zealand. (Photo Source: Izhar Khan, ASIF HASSAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Finally, after four years, another edition of the ODI World Cup is set to commence and this time, India gets the opportunity to host the marquee event exclusively.

Rain has played a massive role in the warm-up matches heading into the World Cup. Hosts India have suffered the most as both their warm-up ties were abandoned without a ball being bowled. Therefore, the tension among fans is palpable regarding the weather forecast for the matches. The first game of the 2023 ODI World Cup is set to be a repeat of the last edition’s final between England and New Zealand. The venue for the curtain-raiser is the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, which is the largest cricket ground in the world.

The match begins at 2:00 PM (IST) at the Narendra Modi Stadium. The fans will be delighted to know that while there is only a 20% chance of rain in the morning, ahead of the match, there shouldn’t be any rain stoppages once the game begins. The temperature will be in the mid-30s in the afternoon and drop gradually in the evening. Humidity will be on the higher side but wind is expected to give the players some respite.

There are three kinds of pitches at the Narendra Modi Stadium – black soil, red soil, and a mixture of them. The black soil pitches are conducive to batting and they have helped teams set some big totals and also chase them down. The red sold pitches, however, are quite dry and spinners get a lot of assistance as the match goes on. The pitches which have been made by mixing black and red soils are balanced. It will be interesting to see which sort of pitch is used for the first game at the colossal venue.

England got the better of New Zealand at home last month

The Kiwis travelled to England to play four T20Is and as many ODIs. The T20I series was levelled at 2-2. However, England ruled the roost in the ODIs as they came back after losing the first game to win three matches in a row and bag the series 3-1.

If the first match of this year’s World Cup gets anywhere near the level of the last edition’s final between these two sides, fans are going to witness a riveting affair to begin the much-awaited tournament.