Will rain affect marquee clash between India and Pakistan?

Team India will take on Pakistan in a blockbuster clash at the T20 World Cup on Sunday evening. Both sides will meet in men's cricket for the third time this year; India and Pakistan took on each other twice in the Asia Cup last month. While India had defeated Babar Azam's men in the group game, Pakistan made a brilliant comeback to beat the Rohit Sharma-led side in the Super 4 stage. Ahead of the T20 World Cup clash, however, things turned rather gloomy in Melbourne earlier this week when it rained heavily in the city on Wednesday and Thursday.

While the Indian team did take part in the practice session on Saturday ahead of the marquee clash, the rain threat continues to loom large on the game.

According to the Australian Government's Bureau of Meteorology, there are 70 percent chances of rain in the city on October 23 -- the date of the clash. In addition, the rain is most likely to drench the city in late afternoon and evening, which is when the match is scheduled to start (2:00 PM BST).

A 2-to-5.5mm of rainfall is possible according to the website, which puts certain doubts on whether the match will take place in its entirety on Sunday.

Earlier, Indian captain Rohit Sharma was asked if the side is prepared for rain delays and a potentially short match against Pakistan due to the weather, to which the 35-year-old said, "The toss does become a little important. But again, I've been hearing about the Melbourne weather for a while now and it keeps changing. You don't really know what is going to happen tomorrow.

"The things that are in our control we'll try and control... We need to come here thinking that it's a 40-over game. We'll be ready for that. If the situation demands that it's a shorter game, we'll be ready for that as well," the Indian captain further said in the press conference on Saturday.