If it rains during RCB vs CSK IPL match, Chinnaswamy’s drainage system could be impact player of day | Ipl News

RCB vs CSK IPL match: Saturday’s IPL match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Chennai Super Kings could be under threat from the weather gods with forecasts indicating a 75 percent chance of rainfall in Bengaluru on the day of the RCB vs CSK IPL match from 8 pm to 11 pm. There are also predictions of scattered thunderstorms and heavy rainfall expected from late afternoon to midnight.
Here’s what the weather forecast on Accuweather for Saturday states: “Cloudy with a couple of showers and a thunderstorm in the afternoon”.
The Indian Meteorological Department, a government agency, has also predicted “thunderstorm and lightning” in South Interior Karnataka sub-region on Saturday, when the game is to be played. A bulletin from IMD stated that “isolated heavy rainfall (is) very likely over South Interior Karnataka during 16th-20th May.”
What happens if RCB vs CSK IPL match gets washed out?
With the chances of rains during the RCB vs CSK IPL match appearing very real, fans from both teams will have one eye on the sky throughout the match. After Thursday’s IPL match between SRH and GT was washed out, CSK is fourth in the table with 14 points, while RCB has 12 points from 13 which places them sixth in the standings. Both need to win the final game, but RCB need to win it more desperately than CSK. A washout hands both teams one point each, which is good enough for CSK to sneak into the IPL playoffs.
There is a possibility for them to make it to the knockout stages even with a defeat in the IPL match against RCB.
But for Bengaluru fans, the entire day of Saturday will be a test of faith.
In situations where it rains and then stops after a spell — as could happen in Bengaluru before or during the RCB vs CSK IPL match — the race for the groundsmen is usually to clear the accumulated water on the surface.
In that sense, the Chinnaswamy Stadium’s drainage system might come in handy as the impact player.
How Chinnaswamy Stadium’s drainage system works

In 2017, the Karnataka State Cricket Association installed the SubAir subsurface aeration and vacuum-powered drainage system at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. This system is meant to dry the surface much faster after a downpour and prevent water getting logged on outfield areas.
The match can be started about 15 or 20 minutes after the rain has stopped.
While unveiling the system, the organisers and KSCA officials had said that the system, which is powered a 200-horsepower machine, can drain water “36 times faster” than normal drainage.
Simply put, there is a suction system in place under the ground surface which kicks into gear as soon as it starts raining. A marketing spokesman of the system had told journals in 2017 that at its full power, the system can suck water at a rate of 10,000 litres per minute.
Earlier, Jacintha Kalyan, who has now become India’s first female pitch curator, had explained in a video in 2019, how beneficial the system was.
“I had worked at the stadium for two or three years before the sub-air system was installed. I felt it was a tough phase because when it rained heavily, a lot of water would get accumulated on the outfield. The stadium did not have Bermuda grass like now back then, it was mixed grass. In some parts of the ground, there would be more water than others and it was tough to clear them,” Kalyan said, who was an assant curator back then at KSCA.
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