New Delhi: After spoiling the much anticipated India vs. Pakistan encounter in the Asia Cup 2023, group stages. The rain god is all set to play the spoilsport in the round 2 encounter of the arch-rivals in the Super 4 on September 10.
According to the initial reports, all the Super 4 matches that are supposed to take place in Sri Lanka will be shifted from Colombo to Hambantota. But then, Jay Shah led the Asian Cricket Council through an email informing the organizers that the tournament would proceed as it was planned earlier.
Former PCB chief Najam Sethi displayed his dissatisfaction over the issue by pointing fingers at Honorary BCCI chief and ACC president Jay Shah, in his post on the social media platform X (Formerly known as Twitter).
I pleaded for three approvals in various meetings with Jay Shah and ACC colleagues:
Play all matches in Pakistan as international cricket had fully returned to Pakistan.
When this was shot down
I proposed that we play five matches in Pakistan and eight in the UAE.
This also they…— Najam Sethi (@najamsethi) September 4, 2023
Najam said that he expressed his concerns about the weather in Sri Lanka and pleaded for the matches to happen in UAE, rather than Sri Lanka, but the ACC committee refused his request.
“Only Mr. Shah can explain why these options were rejected and why Sri Lanka was accommodated against all reason, logic, and rationality. The choice of venues in Sri Lanka was also problematic as we have seen.” He added.
Earlier, the match between India and Pakistan was called off without a single ball being bowled in the second innings, forcing India and Pakistan to share one point each.
Notably, in the rain-curtailed first innings, India found themselves in early danger after Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf wreaked havoc on the Indian top order sending four batsmen back to the pavilion at the mere score of 66. Shaheen struck the wood in order to send Rohit and Kohli back, while Gill and Iyer fell against Haris Rauf.
However, Ishan Kishan (82) and Hardik Pandya (87), etched am 138-run partnership for the fifth wicket to help India post a challenging total of 266 on the board before becoming prey to Rauf and Afridi, respectively.
Innings Break!
A solid show with the bat from #TeamIndia! 👌 👌
8⃣7⃣ for vice-captain @hardikpandya7
8⃣2⃣ for @ishankishan51Over to our bowlers now 👍 👍
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/hPVV0wT83S#AsiaCup23 | #INDvPAK pic.twitter.com/15SNzWM0k1
— BCCI (@BCCI) September 2, 2023
Shaheen Afridi was the star of the night with a four-fer, while Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah took three wickets each.
Interestingly, as per the latest reports India and Pakistan Super 4 match will have a reserve day on 11 September, to make sure the second match between the two doesn’t share the same fate as the first one. But, the other two Super 4 matches of India against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are also in danger of getting washed away. Still, no reserve day has been announced for them so far.
