As revealed by former India cricketer-turned-pundit Saba Karim on air, the hawk-eye system can only be implemented and formatted into the ground once the covers are removed. Rain prior to the game, as well as during Day 1, meant that the formatting process could not take place. The formatting takes about an hour and a half, as per Saba Karim. At no point during the day did the covers stay removed for such a long duration, making start of play next to impossible.
The inability to put in the hawk-eye system led to play being called off earlier on Day 1. While not much rain is predicted in the late hours of Wednesday, October 16, rain is expected to play spoilsport in Day 2 as well. At least two hours of rain is predicted by Accuweather.com at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday, October 17.
40% precipitation is expected, while cloud cover is predicted to be a constant throughout Day 2 as well. In fact, rain is predicted on all five days of the Test match.
India come into the three-match home series as firm favourites, sitting comfortably at the top of the World Test Championship (WTC) standings. New Zealand, on the other hand, are sixth, and have never won an away Test in WTC history.