The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) will have to make quick movements and decisions as the Colombo leg matches of the Asia Cup 2023 have come under the threat of being washed out due to the predicted heavy rains in September in the capital city of the Island nation.
Colombo has witness heavy rains in recent days, and the situation is only forecasted to aggravate with more thunderstorms predicted. This could now force the ACC to move the Super 4 round of matches from Colombo to Dambulla.
The Super 4 round will start from September 6 in Lahore with Pakistan meeting a team from another group. That will be the only Super 4 match in Lahore and the rest of the 5 Super 4 matches are slated to be played in Colombo, including the India vs Pakistan game on September 10. The tournament has already seen one India vs Pakistan match end in a no result due to rain in Pallekele.
The Indian Express has reported that the players and staff have been told of the situation and that the Super 4 matches could be shifted to Pallekele and Dambulla.
https://twitter.com/najamsethi/status/1698292351809314935?s=20
IND vs PAK match on September 10 in Asia Cup 2023 under heavy rain threat
But it cannot be said these are unforeseen circumstances. The weather reports had been known for a while before the schedule was finalized. It has been reported that the Sri Lankan Cricket board had told the ACC to not host matches in Colombo and had suggested Dambulla as the venue for the Super 4 matches. However, the ACC didn’t budge and wanted to conduct games in Colombo.
Sri Lanka have rarely hosted matches in Colombo beyond the first week in September. The ACC is likely to make a final decision on the venue change in the coming 48 hours. The first of the 5 Super 4 matches in Colombo is slated for September 9, so there’s some time in the hands of the ACC. But if the venue is changed, it would again be a lot of inconvenience for the fans who have booked tickets and hotels, especially for the India vs Pakistan match on September 10.
