Another match between India and Pakistan in the Asia Cup was marred by rain on Sunday, with the weather in Colombo preventing play after 24.1 overs, out of which Indian batters had scored 147 runs after losing 2 wickets. Fortunately, a reserve day was set aside by the Asian Cricket Council for the match in Colombo. But the weather conditions at the R Premadasa Stadium are not as conducive to cricket as the two teams would have liked on Monday.
India made a good impression against Pakistan, who had to rue some missed opportunities in the field. Captain Rohit Sharma scored a half-century before being dismissed, while his opening partner Shubman Gill also completed a fifty. Virat Kohli and KL Rahul hoped to take India to a strong total, but rain pushed the match to the reserve day.
What happens in the event of a washout on the reserve day?
As the format of the Super 4 goes, all four qualified teams play each other once. Currently, Pakistan and Sri Lanka occupy the top two places, with two points each. Babar Azam’s men (+1.051) are ahead of the Lankans (+0.420) due to a better Net Run Rate.
India, on the other hand, are yet to open their scoring, with the match against Pakistan being their first in the Super 4s. Bangladesh is 4th with a points total of -0.749. They are already almost out of the race for the final.
In case of failure of the match between India and Pakistan in the Super 4 stage, the points will be shared between the two teams. Such a scenario would take Pakistan’s total to 3 points, which will help them stay at the top of the points table, while India remain third with 1 point in their league.
So, a washout could be dangerous for the Indian team if they fail to win at least one of their next two matches. With Sri Lanka already having one win, they remain ahead of India in the points table.
Although India will play two more matches – against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh – in the Super 4s, there is no guarantee that those matches will not have any cancellations. Therefore, rain-marred matches, including the match against Pakistan, are not very favorable for the Indian team.
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