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Special status to India-Pakistan match stretches to playing conditions
Efforts are on to safeguard the India-Pakistan Super 4 tie on Sunday from being rained out like last week, with a reserve day in place.
It was made official on Friday that only two of the remaining matches of the Asia Cup – the India-Pakistan Super4 tie on Sunday and the final will have a reserve day.
The decision as confirmed to HT on Tuesday by Sri Lanka cricket CEO Ashley de Silva, is to provide additional cover to key matches against rainy weather.
It has been decided that the match can resume on the reserve day from the point play is suspended due to rain on match-day. In effect, it brightens the prospects of getting a result for the India-Pakistan clash, which is expected to be rain-affected. Weather forecast in Colombo for both September 9 and the reserve-day 10th isn’t all that encouraging with 90 % precipitation and 55 % chances of thundershowers predicted.
However, if the Sri Lanka-Bangladesh tie is rained out, they get to take home shared points, leaving the losing side from India-Pakistan action at a disadvantage.
It’s unusual for a multi-team competition to have unequal playing conditions for different matches. A call quite clearly driven by commercial considerations, could just about hurt any of the four teams in hunt for the title.
THE BIG DRAW
The India-Pakistan twin-clashes are known to account for 80 % of broadcast money in the six-nation tournament. This is also reflected by the variance in the ticket rates for Super4 matches in Colombo. A Grandstand Top level ticket for the India-Pakistan clash is worth $200. Whereas for the match involving home team Sri Lanka and tournament hosts Pakistan the same ticket is worth $25; the same as for Sri Lanka-Bangladesh. For India’s two other fixtures against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, this ticket is worth $50.
In the absence of bilateral cricket between the two arch-rivals, these matches have become hot property for the Asian Cricket Council – the new Asia Cup format encourages the teams to potentially clash thrice, including the final.
Even as the two boards are engaged in a testy communication exchange on the sidelines – BCCI secretary and ACC Chairman Jay Shah sent out a statement highlighting teams being reluctant to play in Pakistan and PCB wrote back accusing him of unilateral decision-making – they are happy with the arrangement.
Coaching staff from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka though were not amused.
“There is a technical committee represented by every participating country. They might have decided it for some other reason," Chandika Hathurasingha, head coach, Bangladesh told reporters on Friday. "It is not ideal, and we also would have liked to have an extra day.”
"Yeah! Look, obviously, I was a little surprised when I heard it first. But we don't organise the competition, so we can't do a whole lot about it, right?" said Chris Silverwood, Sri Lanka head coach.
Sri Lanka has been experiencing a rainy September resulting in a no-result for the India-Pakistan league match played in Pallekele, last Saturday. The first innings of the contest which saw India posting 266 thanks to a rearguard partnership between Hardik Pandya and Ishan Kishan was still the most-watched match of the competition, crossing 1.5 crores concurrent viewership on Hotstar.
