India vs Pakistan Highlights Asia Cup Super 4: Play called off; rain, wet outfield moves IND vs PAK game to reserve day

India vs Pakistan Live Score: Just a reminder that if a 20-over chase is possible today, Pakistan will have a target of 180 to knock down.

India vs Pakistan Live Score: The players who are out on the field hardly look like they expect anything to happen today. Babar and Rizwan are walking around in their slippers. It is all looking quite bleak but hey, it is India-Pakistan so you never know. Who would've predicted many Asia Cup editions ago that there would be a reserve day assigned just for this match in a Super Four that has been made almost to ensure that these two teams play each other at least twice in the tournament.

India vs Pakistan Live Score: The umpires spoke with Babar Azam and players from both camps have made their way out. Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid chat with Morne Morkel around one of the wet patches and Rohit is shaking his head. Meanwhile, KL Rahul, one of two players batting for India, is still in his training kit. 

India vs Pakistan Live Score: Lots of pointing between the three men towards different parts of the ground. Those wet patches really are a dampener (yes, I did that), and if this match is forced into the reserve day, it could be largely because of those. 

India vs Pakistan Live Score: Well Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav and a few others are joking away about something. Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma, Rahul Dravid and the rest of the Indian management have got their pens and papers out and seem to be doing all kinds of calculations about the possible playing conditions.

And Sri Lanka and India have exactly the same timezones and so that means that you could hear a restart happening at 11.30pm as well. Dasgupta futher shows that the shade of the ground that the groundstaff are working on is a significantly different colour, almost brown. That, is a real area of concern. 

India vs Pakistan Live Score: Deep Dasgupta finally gives an update from the middle. “The ground still wet. Groundsmen still working hard. Going to take 45 mins. Umpires will come on after the covers are off.” He points to a few areas by the advertising fences where there are proper puddles. 

India vs Pakistan Live Score: A the risk of raising false alarms, it is safe to say that there most of the overs have been removed. The main square remains very much the under the wraps. More worryingly, though, the ground staff is still working hard on that wet patch.

India vs Pakistan Live Score: It hasn't rained for a while now and it seems that the ground staff are busy servicing a patch of the outfield that is damp. They have got huge pieces of sponge and are dabbing the grass there. This will take a while and yes, we have started losing overs now.

India vs Pakistan Live Score: Bah, those crossed fingers weren't enough it seems. The rain returned and so did the covers. That sort of day folks.

India vs Pakistan Live Score: Well here we are, big patches of green in between the blue now. Rain has completely stopped and keep your fingers crossed for it to stay this way. No word on the playing conditions yet but we did see Hardik Pandya and Rohit Sharma dressed up and looking like they are mentally prepared to take the field. 

India vs Pakistan Live Score: Some of the outfield covers are coming off now since rains have stopped entirely. There are still some dark clouds that can be seen over the sky that itself is a deep shade of blue and so, nothing much can be deduced from that.

India are 147/2 in 24.1 overs. KL Rahul was on strike when the players went off, batting on 17 off 28. Virat Kohli at the other end on 8 off 16. Shadab Khan was bowling his seventh over, having taken one wicket and coming back strong after being belted around the park by Rohit and Gill in his first two overs. Shaheen Afridi is the other wicket-taker for Pakistan.

India vs Pakistan Live Score: As stated earlier, the only update is that rain has ceased. The covers are still very much in place and the ground staff is moving around over them. 

India vs Pakistan Live Score: But that is all we have as far as updates are concerned. Nothing so far on when, or even whether, we will have a restart today. 

India vs Pakistan Live Score: The Pakistan pace legend is not too optimistic of play happening today.

India vs Pakistan Live Score: If this match also gets washed out, then there would be as many washouts in this tournament alone as there have been in the history of India-Pakistan ODI cricket. Only twice had this fixture needed to be abandoned due to rain before this Asia Cup. The last time this happened before this tournament was all the way back in September 1997 in Toronto. Pakistan, led by Ramiz Raja, were on 169/3 in 31.5 overs with Saeed Anwar unbeaten on 74 off 84. Harvinder Singh had taken one wicket while Sourav Ganguly had taken two for an Indian team captained by Sachin Tendulkar.

India vs Pakistan Live Score: It was his back that was troubling Shreyas Iyer, eventually leading to him sitting out for all those months. And so the news that it is because of a back spasm that he is sitting out would come as a cause for concern for them. For now, though, no further details on his injury apart from what Rohit said at the toss.

India vs Pakistan Live Score: That is what Ravi Shastri had to say, in rather typical fashion. First there was the monsoon of boundaries thanks to Rohit and Gill. And then, just when Pakistan made a comeback, the real rain came in.

India vs Pakistan Live Score: Well here is Fakhar Zaman helping out the sensational ground staff at the Premadasa. 

India vs Pakistan Live Score: Well it seems like they were just shuffling the covers and so the little bit of green that had opened has been closed back down. Get yourself a cup of coffee or tea, go do any work that you may have put off, although today is a Sunday but then what are weekends in this 24x7 world, eh? We could be sitting here for a while.

India vs Pakistan Live Score: The umpire are out there with umbrellas in hand as one of the covers over the outfield gets peeled away. The intensity of rainfall has come down a bit but we are nowhere near close to a restart.

India vs Pakistan Live Score: Pakistan will have to chase down a target of 181, which is a ridiculously steep chase in any T20 match, let alone a T20 match that is, in fact, an ODI match.

India vs Pakistan Live Score: If no more play is possible today, the match resumes tomorrow from this point, no change in scores or number of overs. However, the umpires' first priority will be to complete the game today and they will choose to continue with it even if only a 20-over chase is possible.

India vs Pakistan Live Score: The short story is that India are 147/2 in 24.1 overs. KL Rahul is on 17 off 28, Virat Kohli on 8 off 16. Shadab Khan and Shaheen Afridi have got a wicket each. The long story, is that this match has already got the kind of ebb and flow that only an epic ODI match can offer. Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill came in with the intention of "Hulk Smash!", if one is to use the Marvel lingo. They smacked the Pakistan pacers around the ground and threw them off their lines. The opening partnership produced 121 runs in just 16.4 overs. Gill scored 58 off 52 ball while Rohit scored 56 off 49. But Pakistan came back from a seemingly hopeless situation with two wickets in consecutive overs. Shadab Khan, who had been smashed for 32 runs in his first two overs, got the breakthrough in the third by dismissing Rohit Sharma. Afridi dismissed Gill in the very next over, bringing two new batters in Rahul and Kohli into the middle.

India vs Pakistan Live Score: Well we could be gone for a while it seems. The rain teased around a bit, going down in intensity right after the covers came on, and then the heavenly taps opened up. One can even hear the rainfall in the broadcast, not something that happens too often. Well, this was always coming folks, and while we are still in the early stages, this match could be forced into that controversial reserve day by the look of things. 

The ground staff is just as quick in getting covers from all sides of the field and covering up the 30 yard circle. Among them is Fakhar Zaman as well! Well the rain has pretty much come out of nowhere and it is coming in sheets!

IND vs PAK Live score: Some A-grade comedy there as Rauf appeals for LBW against Rahul off the fifth ball of that over. Umpire shakes his head and Rauf turns around and raises his finger saying that it is out. Rahul, Rizwan and Babar can't stop smiles from appearing on their faces and the Pakistan captain is almost scolding Rauf for asking for that. Replays show that it was going about 3 inches over the stumps.

IND vs PAK Live score: Short from Rauf, Rahul pulls him past midwicket for a boundary.

IND vs PAK Live score: This has been a good comeback from the spinner after he was creamed in his first two overs. Rauf continues from the other end. The Indian run rate has plumetted, as one would expect after the marauding openers fell. For now, the game is evenly poised, Pakistan smelling wickets but India are not too shaken either. 

Kohli and Rahul choosing to take it easy at the moment which is pretty much what India need. It is the middle overs and these two players are more than aware of what they need to do at this stage of an ODI innings. Kohli on 6 off 13, Rahul on 13 off 18.

Haris Rauf replaces Shaheen Afridi for the 22nd. It is starting to get cloudy now, all dark and gloomy on the ground. But the knowledgeable ground staff are nowhere to be seen so no reasons to fret at the moment.

Afridi had given nothing away in the 20th but Rahul pulls the fifth ball to the boundary. He moves to 9 off 11 at the end of that over, Kohli on 5 off 8, India 135/2 in 20 overs.

KL Rahul is out there at No.4, playing his first innings in nearly six months. He is on 1 off 1, Kohli on 2 off six. Pakistan with their tails up all of a sudden.

Pakistan are back in it, Afridi gets Gill. Gill hits it this good length delivery straight to point and India have lost both their set batters in consecutive overs.

Gill c Shadab Khan b Shaheen Shah Afridi 58 (52), India 123/2 17.5 overs

Afridi seems to have had some treatment on his fingers and he has come back just in time for Kohli. The former India captain, of course, has scored centuries in his last three ODI innings on this ground.

What a catch that is from Faheem Ashraf and Shadab Khan has roared back here. Flighted delivery outside off, Rohit comes forward but doesnt' really go through with that shot. The fielder runs to his left from long on and completes a very good catch falling over.

Rohit Sharma c Faheem Ashraf b Shadab Khan 56 (49), India 121/1 in 16.4 overs

Babar brings him back for a third over. 31 runs in two overs thus far. He will be bowling to Gill for the first ball of the 17th.

Just three runs in this over, a relief for Pakistan. Rarely has their bowling lineup been dominant so comprehensively in the first 20 overs of recent matches. Rohit is on 56 off 48, just 22 runs away from 10,000 ODI runs. Gill is on 55 off 48.

Shadab Khan has conceded 31 runs in his two overs. Rauf continues from the other end. Where do Pakistan look now. All of a sudden India's batting strength looks almost overwhelming. Kohli, Rahul, Kishan, Pandya, Jadeja, all yet to come. India's run rate at the moment is 7.66.