Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium all decked up for its first international showdown

The Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Dehradun is all set to host its first ever international match. Afghanistan, who have been forced to play away from their country, will be the first 'home' team to take the field at this newly-inaugurated stadium, against a Bangladesh side which is still trying to find its feet in the shortest format of the sport after all these years.

The stadium, which is built in the Raipur area of Dehradun with Himalayan mountain ranges in the background, will become the 21st stadium in India to host a T20 international. The 25,000-seater is a state-of-the-art stadium and is spread over an area of 23 acres. Equipped with floodlights, it has as many as five pitches and the one in the centre is expected to be used for the first of the three T20I matches.

How the pitch is expected to behave

The outfield might be on the slower side with dew expected to play a role in the night

There is every chance that the track here at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium will play slow with a lot of turn on offer. This would bring spinners from both the sides into equation and Afghanistan, clearly, have the upper hand there.

However, the weather in Dehradun has not been at its best in the last couple of days and the city has seen a thunderstorm on Friday night. A drizzle on Saturday morning had even forced the Afghanistan team to postpone their training but the sun did come out later in the day which further established the fact that the pitch will be all ready for the spinners to come on and wreak havoc.

"The outfield might be on the slower side, and dew is expected to play a role in the night as well," stated one of the groundsmen. This means that the match, which starts at 8 PM, would tilt in favour of the team batting second, like every other T20 match in the subcontinent.

As far as the weather forecast is concerned though, Sunday might be a cloudy day but there are no chances of rain, which is a good news for the cricket fans in the capital city of Uttarakhand who are expected to fill up the stadium for the city's first international match.