Persistent rain on Saturday washed out the World Cup warm-up match between India and England at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati. It began raining a little before the start of the match on Saturday afternoon, which resulted in the toss being delayed but later in the evening the umpires decided to abandon the contest, a little before 6pm local time owing to inclement weather. All 10 teams will get to play two warm-up matches each before the group stage of the 50-over World Cup which gets underway in Ahmedabad on October 5.

England will face New Zealand in the World Cup opener.

England, who arrived in India a day before their first warm-up match, will remain in Guwahati to play their second and final warm-up game against Bangladesh on October 2.

On the other hand, India, who travelled all the way to Guwahati on Thursday after completing a 2-1 series win over Australia, will now fly to Thiruvananthapuram for their second warm-up match against the Netherlands on October 3.

The warm-up matches began on Friday with Sri Lanka suffering a seven-wicket defeat at the hands of Bangladesh here, while New Zealand defeated Pakistan in a high-scoring contest in Hyderabad.

The warm-up matches are being played at three venues Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram and Hyderabad.

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Hyderabad (PTI): Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, will attend the GOAT India Tour event featuring football legend Lionel Messi at the RGI Cricket Stadium here on Saturday evening, Telangana Congress sources said.

A friendly match will be played between the two teams -- Singareni RR9 and Aparna-Messi All Stars. These two teams will be playing a 15-20 minute friendly match and five minutes before the game, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, a football enthusiast and Messi will join and will dribble the ball together.

Rahul Gandhi will land here on a special flight at 4.30 PM and will proceed to Taj Falaknuma Palace Hotel where Messi will be staying.

After watching the game, Gandhi will leave for the national capital by 10.30 PM.

Elaborate security arrangements are being made for the event at the RGI Cricket stadium.

Rachakonda Police Commissioner Sudheer Babu said security would be provided with 3,000 personnel.