After weeks of back-channel diplomacy, night-long negotiations, nudges from the International Cricket Council chair and even governmental intervention, the much-hyped India-Pakistan fixture risks becoming a non-event anyway - just as it had threatened to be before the midnight settlement of February 10. This time, though, the obstacle isn't politics but weather: a late northeast-monsoon spillover, with showers forecast to sweep across Colombo during Sunday night's match window.

At the time of filing this report, Colombo wore a sullen look and forecasts suggest the gloom will only deepen over the next 24 hours. Fingers will be crossed for the 16,000 Indian fans understood to have flown into the island nation for the marquee clash, as well as for the Pakistani and local supporters set to pack the 28,000-capacity R. Premadasa Stadium - not to mention the millions tuning in across the cricketing world.

"This game between India-Pakistan has always been a big magnitude match and will continue to remain so even in the future. We were prepared for everything, whether we got to play tomorrow's game or not. We can't do anything about rain. If the overs will be reduced, we know what we need to do," said Salman Agha, Pakistan captain about the uncertainty surrounding the contest.

As the captains often say on the eve of a game, there are only so many factors that are in their control. The weather is one of the great 'uncontrollables' - so too is the pitch, which at this venue has largely remained on the slower side, offering substantial turn. It's a contrast to the 'belter' that was initially expected and prepared for this big game.

It may yet turn out to be a high-scoring surface (the look of it from a distance appears so), contrary to the three matches seen so far at the venue in this World Cup, where totals have hovered in the 160-180 range. But again, that falls under the realm of the uncontrollables. Reading a pitch and predicting the weather have been hazardous exercises. That may sound like rhetorical excess, but it is not entirely an out-of-place assessment of the situation.