Rain again stops play in first ODI between India and West Indies

Rain stopped play for the second time in the first one-dayer between India and the West Indies after the home side scored 54 for 1 in 13 overs in the already truncated match here on Thursday.

Opener Evin Lewis and Shai Hope were batting on 40 and 6 respectively at the rain break after Indian captain Virat Kohli won the toss and asked the West Indies to bat.

Earlier, play had resumed after rain and ground-related interruption which forced the match being reduced to 34-over-a-side.

The match was already reduced to 43-over-a side even before a ball being bowled as the wet outfield had forced the toss to be delayed.

The match began two hours later than the original 7pm IST start.

The first rain interruption was when the home side had scored 9 for no loss in 5.4 overs and the match was about to start 30 minutes later but the wet area near the bowlers' run-up led to another delay of more than half an hour.

The Indian fielders and the two West Indies batsmen -- Chris Gayle and Lewis -- came into the ground but Kohli was seen having a discussion with the umpires.

Play did not start immediately as the umpires reckoned the ground staff need more time to get the ground ready. Kohli and some other Indian players were seen shaking their legs for a while, moving to the tunes of the DJ at the venue.

The players later walked off the field and the ground staff were seen spraying a lot of sawdust on the wet areas.

The umpires made another inspection and after more than an hour's interruption, the match resumed for a 34-over-a-side affair.