IND vs PAK Asia Cup 2023 Highlights: Match washed out; India, Pakistan share points

Right the two sets of players are shaking hands in the dressing room, Rohit Sharma and Babar Azam do that as well most importantly. So that is the end of this match. In the end, all it turned out to be was an extremely hyped up, under-pressure practice day for the Pakistan bowlers and Indian batters. And while one might think that the Pakistani bowlers came out on top, India would be happy about the fact that they know they have cool heads in the middle order who can play a situation and get out of tricky spots. Pakistan are through to the Super 4. And unless Nepal pull of a world-stopping upset, India will be there too. 

They have their umbrellas with and are chatting with the heads of the ground staff now. There are a lot of Indian players still sitting in the dugout.

Word from the middle is that it doesn't stop raining in the next 20 minutes, this match will be called off.

The star players today really hasn't been Shaheen Afridi or Naseem Shah or Ishan Kishan or Hardik Pandya. It has been the ground staff. 

Just in case you are wondering, there is no scope of a five-over or 10-over dash out. That happens only in the slap bang blockbuster world of T20s. In the realm of the more traditional forms of cricket, a match less than 20 overs doesn't even exist. So yes, we are now less than an hour away from the match meeting the deadline to be called off. Experienced cricket watchers would know that officials and captains tend to not wait that long.

The cut-off time for a 20-over match is 10.27pm. That is almost exactly an hour from now. 

As mesmerising it is to watch the ground staff do their thing, it is also quit depressing to see this. The Indian bowlers were out there warming up, Bumrah has now sat back down in the dug out.

And just as those conversations happen, we can seem the thin, glistening wet lines in the air again. Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya are among the Indian players waiting in the dugout.

It does look like the captains are being told about the playing conditions here as Pasoori blares out at the stadium. That should make both sets of fans happy. 

We have lost about one and a half hours now but there is absolutely no rains. Jasprit Bumrah seems to be itching to get out there, some Indians are already making their way down the stairs. We could be having a restart any minute now. 

This is not the first or last visual you will see of the Sri Lankan ground staff doing magical things. They are removing the covers. 

There are some spectators who were readier than others for the day. 

So no action for the next 17 minutes at least. Of course, this inspection is subject to if there are no rains in the ensuing time. 

If this match is reduced to 45 overs, Pakistan's target will be 254. It will be 239 in 40 overs, 203 in 30 overs, 155 in 20 overs.

The umpires are chatting with the ground staff as they start making their way around the ground. They are looking at the watch time and again during the conversation. They need to get the calculators out now, a lot of mathematics to do now. You, meanwhile, can get some dinner on your plates and your choice of beverage in your glasses. If you haven't made any dinner, go ahead, cook something up. We could be here for some more time. How is the rain you ask? Unproblematic. 

Reasons for an ODI to be abandoned between India and Pakistan have ranged from assasinations to teams conceding in protest. However, wash-outs have happened just twice in all the games that they have played against each other. The last time this happened was in Toronto on September 17, 1997. Ramiz Raja led Pakistan, who batted first while Sachin Tendulkar was India's skipper. Saeed Anwar was unbeaten on 74 off 84 while Sourav Ganguly had taken two wickets when the two teams went off and never came back.

The ground is completely covered up. Rahul Dravid is chatting away with his former India teammate and match referee Javagal Srinath while looking at the DLS sheet. The Pakistan innings is going to be curtailed here. 

The rain has intensified and every inch of the ground is now covered up. No one does it quite like the Sri Lanka ground staff.

The rain has pretty much gone down to a sparse drizzle. The ground staff taking off some covers off the outfield but the playing area remains very much wrapped up. 

“That was our plan with the new ball. I think both (Virat and Rohit) were crucial wickets, every batter is the same for me. But I think I liked Rohit's wicket better. The plans by our fast bowlers worked. Naseem is bowling at 150 kph, really happy with that, he's really fast. The new ball might swing and seam, nothing much after that. It will be easier to score runs once the ball gets old (in the run chase).”

Just as the players make their way off, rain returns. The ground staff is running on to the pitch with the covers as well. Well Pakistan let this game drift a lot. Their fielding was as sloppy as the spin bowling was in the middle overs and despite all that, India have only managed to score a competitive 266, instead of a mammoth total. Just shows how dominant Pakistan would have been had they kept their eye on the game throughout this innings. 

Bumrah holes out at midwicket. What a cameo he has played, 16 in 14 balls. Naseem Shah ends with figures of 3/36 after going almost the entire match with no wickets to show for his brilliant efforts. All of India's wickets fell to pace, in fact the spinners never really came close to containing the batters, let alone taking any wickets.

Naseem gets a second off the second ball of the 49th. Kuldeep nicks it to the wicketkeeper.

And what an extraordinary spell it has been. He ends with figures of 4/35 in 10 overs. His wickets are Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja. India 261/8 in 48 overs.

Bumrah on 11 off nine, Kuldeep at the other end having made 2 in 8. There are three more overs to go for India.