The coaches of the Bangladesh and Sri Lanka teams have expressed surprise at the decision of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) to add a reserve day to the Super 4 match of India and Pakistan in the Asia Cup 2023.
The Super 4 round of Asia Cup 2023 had commenced on Wednesday with Pakistan defeating Bangladesh in Lahore by 7 wickets. The tournament now moves to Colombo where the rest of the Super 4 matches and the final will be played.
But Colombo is forecasted to receive heavy rainfall in the coming days. India vs Pakistan is scheduled for September 10.
The ACC on Friday then added a reserve day (September 11) to only the India vs Pakistan encounter in order to give more time for the match to complete amid the rain threat. The group game between the two teams in Pallekele, on September 2, was also washed out.
Fearing another washout for an India-Pakistan game, the ACC, headed by ACC President and the BCCI Secretary Jay Shah, added a reserve day for the September 10 game, and also for the final. But the India-Pakistan match is the only match in the Super 4 round for which the ACC has added a reserve day. This irked fans on social media.
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka feel India, Pakistan getting unfair advantage with reserve day
When the coaches of the other two teams – Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusinghe, and Sri Lanka coach Chris Silverwood – learned about this new change in the rules of the tournament, both expressed surprise over it.
Chris Silverwood even went on to hint that this reserve day would give an extra unfair advantage to India and Pakistan in Asia Cup 2023 over Sri Lanka and Bangladesh as India and Pakistan get the opportunity to gain an extra point with a win while they would have gotten only one point for a wash out.
Silverwood said: “It’s a little surprise when I first heard,” he said. “But we don’t organise the competition, so there’s nothing much we can do about that. I only see it becoming a problem if the reserve day provides points for someone else and affects us or someone else. There’s nothing we can do about it. We get on with preparing, and do the best that we can.”
Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusinghe said: “I haven’t seen this kind of thing in another tournament, this changing rules in the middle of the tournament,” he said at a press conference. “I am sure there is a technical committee that has representations from every participating countries. They must have decided for some other reason. Yes, it is not ideal. We would love to have an extra day also. Other than that, I don’t have much to comment because they have made a decision.
