Asia Cup tie between India and Pakistan moved to reserve day

COLOMBO, Sept 10 (Reuters) – Rain hit the most anticipated Asia Cup clash again on Sunday, halting the mouth-watering Super Four clash between India and arch-rival Pakistan, which will now end on Monday.

Put into bat, India had reached 147-2 in 24.1 overs when heavy rain suspended play. The referees waited almost four hours before deciding that the rest of the game would be played on Monday.

The September 2 group match between the heavyweights in Pallekele had been abandoned due to rain after Indian innings.

India’s openers impressed on Sunday after Pakistan captain Babar Azam won the toss and elected to play at the R Premadasa Stadium.

Shaheen Afridi had troubled India’s top leadership in recent matches but Rohit Sharma and his team seemed to have found an antidote to the left-arm speedster.

Shubman Gill, in particular, took the sting out of Pakistan’s ferocious pace attack when he combined with Rohit in a fun opening stand of 122 runs.

Gill (58) twice smashed Afridi for three boundaries in an over, eventually dismissing the bowler from the attack after a costly, wicketless first spell.

Rohit survived Naseem Shah’s hostile opening spell before prevailing, hitting four sixes in his breezy 56 as boundaries flowed from both ends.

Spinner Shadab Khan broke the partnership when Rohit holed out deep and Afridi returned to end Gill’s fluid knock to drag Pakistan back into the contest.

KL Rahul, picked after Shreyas Iyer was ruled out with back spasms, and Virat Kohli, with eight batsmen, were on the verge of stabilizing India when rain stopped play.

Rahul, who was 17, looked comfortable in his first match since returning from a thigh injury in May.

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