Colombo witnessed heavy rain on Monday, during the Reserve Day of India vs Pakistan Super 4 match© AFP
Ahead of the start of the Asia Cup Super Four match between India and Pakistan in Colombo on reserve day, there have been some dispiriting signals from the island country questioning the possibility of completing the match. The exciting match between India and Pakistan in the Super Four stage of the 2023 Asia Cup was canceled and moved to a reserve day as rain did not allow play after 24.1 overs on Sunday. The game was stopped for almost four hours today as the rain kept coming back. India resume their innings today at 147/2, with Virat Kohli (8*) and KL Rahul (17*) unbeaten. Skipper Rohit Sharma (56) and Shubman Gill (58) had reached glorious fifties.
On the reserve day, heavy rain fell in Colombo at 7am. The sky is extremely cloudy.
Furthermore, the pitch suffered massive damage as there were noticeable wet spots at the R Premadas Stadium, where the match will take place. More rain will only make these spots worse, further delaying the game or even causing a stoppage without any further action.
If this match is dismissed, India and Pakistan will get one point each. Pakistan will move to the top of the Super Four standings with three points after beating Bangladesh. Sri Lanka has also already registered a win against Bangladesh worth two points, which almost eliminated the country from the competition.
In this case, India’s next two matches against Sri Lanka (September 12) and Bangladesh (September 15) will be a must-win match for India and will earn a total of five points.
Losing even one of these matches or two more washouts will reduce India to just three points, which will jeopardize India’s chances of qualification. If India want to qualify for the finals with three points, it will depend on how the points table turns out for the rest of the teams due to their results, rain and net run-rate.
India vs Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka vs Pakistan and India vs Bangladesh are the remaining matches before the final on September 17 in Colombo.
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