On Friday it became official that only two of the remaining Asia Cup matches – the one against India –Pakistan Super4 eliminator on Sunday and the final in Colombo will have a reserve day.
The decision, as Sri Lanka cricket chief executive Ashley de Silva confirmed to HT on Tuesday, will provide additional coverage for key matches against the rainy weather. The Asian Cricket Council had deliberated moving the matches from Colombo to Hambantota but did not go ahead.
It has been decided that the match can be resumed on the reserve day from the moment the points game is suspended due to rain on the day of the match. In fact, it improves the prospects of getting a result for the India-Pakistan standoff, which is expected to be affected by the rains. The weather forecast in Colombo for both September 9 and Reserve Day 10 is not very encouraging, with 90% rainfall and a 55% chance of thunderstorms predicted.
However, if Sri Lanka-bangladesh If the tie is rained out, they will be able to take home the shared points, leaving the losing team of the India-Pakistan clash at a disadvantage.
It is unusual for a multi-team competition to have unequal playing conditions for different matches. A decision clearly driven by commercial considerations could hurt any of the four title-chasing teams.
THE GREAT ATTRACTION
Matchups between India and Pakistan are known to account for 80% of the broadcast money in the six-nation tournament. This is also reflected in the variation in ticket rates for Super4 matches in Colombo. A Grandstand Top level ticket for the India-Pakistan clash is worth $200. While for the match between the local team Sri Lanka and the tournament host Pakistan, the same ticket costs $25; the same as for Sri Lanka-Bangladesh. For India’s two other matches against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, this ticket is worth $50.
In the absence of bilateral cricket between the two arch-rivals, these matches have become a hot topic for the Asian Cricket Council: the new Asia Cup format encourages teams to potentially face each other three times, including in the final.
Even as the two boards are locked in a testy exchange of communication on the sidelines (BCCI secretary and ACC president Jay Shah sent a statement highlighting the teams’ reluctance to play in Pakistan and the PCB responded by accusing him of making unilateral decisions ), there will be no no-ball siren from either of the competing sides on an unfair playing field created by a reserve day only for the India-Pakistan match.
Sri Lanka has been experiencing a rainy September which has meant that the India-Pakistan league match played in Pallekele last Saturday was unsuccessful. Before the rain arrived, India completed their batting innings with 266, thanks to a rearguard partnership between Hardik Pandya and ishan kishan. It remains the most watched match in the competition, with over 1.5 million simultaneous viewers on Hotstar.
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