India and New Zealand were forced to cancel their training sessions at the iconic Wankhede stadium here on Wednesday due to rain.
The Wankhede track was covered as it was raining in South Mumbai since Wednesday morning.
''Team India's practice session has been canceled due to rains,'' said the BCCI in a statement.
Good rainy morning from the Wankhede stadium!! Pitch is covered, and back to Press Box after 23 months, the feeling is Surreal!!! Pune we did from Corporate Box pic.twitter.com/KBQw4UbMjo
— Nikhil Bapat (@BapatNikhil) December 1, 2021
Both India and New Zealand arrived in the megapolis from Kanpur on Tuesday evening for the second and the final Test of the series.
The first Test between the two sides ended in a draw in Kanpur after a pulsating fifth day's play as the visitors denied India a memorable win.
Meanwhile, India bowling coach Paras Mhambrey said on Wednesday that the team is backing senior batters Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara to come good ahead of the second Test against New Zealand on Friday. He believes that the duo is just one innings away from bouncing back into form.
In Test matches in 2021, Rahane has amassed just 411 runs in 21 innings at an average of 19.57, including only two half-centuries.
In the drawn first Test at Kanpur, Rahane registered scores of 35 and 4, resulting in his Test career average going below 40. Pujara, on the other hand, is yet to score a century since his knock of 193 against Australia in the 2019 Sydney Test.
Just like Rahane, Pujara was unable to leave an impact in the Kanpur Test, making 26 and 22 in both innings.
"I think with both Ajinkya and Pujara, we know that they have a lot of experience behind them. They played enough cricket and we also know as a team that they are one innings away from coming back into form. So, as a team, everyone is behind them and backing them. We know that the value they bring to the team, the experience that they have will come good.
"So, it is just one innings away from getting back to form. In that sense, we are not having those discussions around them. They have played enough cricket to understand what is expected out of them and what is required to get that going," said Mhambrey in the virtual press interaction.
