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Waterworld!

And here I was, thinking all along that Cherrapunji was the wettest place in the world. Sri Lanka seems, from available evidence, to have got Meghalaya's pride and joy beat by a country mile!

Actually, while on the subject, Cherrapunji is no longer the wettest place in the world -- that honour now going to Mawsynram, a few kilometers away, which reportedly gets 20 meters of rain in a year.

Not quite sure how much the Sinhalese Sports Club got, today -- but it was certainly enough for play to be called off after New Zealand, winning the toss, had laboured to 128 for five off 31.1 overs.

It was at this point that the rains came down. When the cloudburst subsided after about 15, 20 minutes, the umpires, B C Cooray and D N Pathirana, indicated that an attempt would be made to resume play by 4.20 pm, local time, at the latest. Had play resumed then, India would have been asked to make 112 for a victory -- with the mandatory 25 overs that is the bare minimum that constitutes a match, to do it in.

However, steady rain subsequently forced the umpires to call off further play.

A detailed review of the game seems pretty pointless, given the shared points. The high spots were the bowling, first, of Venkatesh Prasad and, later, of Harbajan Singh and Anil Kumble.

Stephen Fleming, deciding to bat first on winning the toss, must have been aiming at a sizeable total. And with Agarkar for once proving expensive without getting wickets in return, it was Prasad who used the humid, overcast conditions to seam the ball around to superb effect, preventing the run rate from going through the roof despite Nathan Astle's obviously aggressive intent.

Prasad in fact took out Astle when the batsman aimed a drive at a delivery just outside off. The movement off the seam meant that the ball took the bottom of the bat and, instead of clearing mid off as was the intention, found Kumble in that position diving to his right to hold a good one.

Agarkar was replaced after just three overs, by Harbajan Singh. And the young offie, who seems on a confidence overdose these days, turned and bounced the ball past skipper Fleming's bat so often that frustration finally produced the error. Fleming attempted to step away and slog over mid off, but flayed the ball straight to Tendulkar in that position.

Kumble, who thus far in this tournament appeared to be bowling well within himself, reverted to his most dangerous. Hitting the spin-friendly deck hard, he got bounce, fizz and even some turn -- a combination of all three defeating the advancing Bryan Young for Mongia to take the bails off.

Mathew Horne appeared totally ill at ease against both spinners. And Harbajan ended his misery without much ado when a superbly disguised floater saw Horne misreading it completely. The batsman came down the track, playing for the ball to turn to off. Instead, it went on with the arm, past the edge of the bat, to put Mongia in business yet again.

Both Chris Cairns and Adam Parore, the not out batsmen when rain brought the curtain down on ODI number 1342, were making heavy weather of coping with the turning ball -- a weakness the Lankans successfully exploited in the Test series prior to this triangular, then used again to win the June 21 one day meeting between the two sides.

With this, India's league games are over, and only the final remains. Will India get there?

Anant Gaundalkar adds: With both India and New Zealand splitting points, the question of the possible target for India in the event play could be resumed is now academic.

However, the calculations, as per the Clarke's Curve, are as follows:

The target score in this type of stoppage will be the norm of the team batting second, divided by the norm of the team batting first, multiplied by the number of runs scored by the team that batted first.

In figures, that is 150 (the norm for the team batting second, in 25 overs) divided by 171 (the norm, at the 31.1 over stage, of the team batting first) divided by 128, the Kiwi total at the point when the innings was terminated.

Which equals 112.

Of more interest is the future course of the competition. The rules governing international one day competitions read as follows: In the event of teams finishing on equal points, the right to play in the final will be decided by the most wins in the preliminary matches. Or, when teams have equal wins on equal points, the team which is the winner of most matches between those two particular teams will be placed in the higher position. Or if still equal, the higher net run rate in the preliminary matches will decide the outcome.

The only way there can be a tie on points is if New Zealand, now on four points, defeats Sri Lanka on Sunday in the final league game.

As of now, India and Sri Lanka are level on six points apiece, with New Zealand on four. Thus, if Sunday's game is won by the hosts, or abandoned due to rain, the Kiwis are out of contention straight away.

Will a win by the Kiwis do the trick?

To answer that, one has to first look at the net run rate. And right upfront, it must be remembered that runs scored in abandoned matches are not counted in these computations.

Thus, at present, India leads on run rate with +.35, followed by Sri Lanka with +.17, and New Zealand on -1.03.

Thus, it will not be merely enough for New Zealand to win -- they will have to do so by an immense margin, in order to pip India on the run rate. And that, considering the present form of the New Zealand side, seems an impossiblity.

The stage, thus, is all but set for an India-Sri Lanka final at the Premadasa Stadium on July 7.

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