Shruti Suman
Another thrilling India vs. Pakistan encounter in the Asia Cup was disrupted by rain on Sunday. The Colombo weather prevented any play after 24.1 overs, during which the Indian team had scored 147 runs while losing 2 wickets. Fortunately, the Asian Cricket Council had scheduled a reserve day for the match in Colombo. However, the weather conditions at the R Premadasa stadium weren’t favorable for cricket on Monday either.
India made an explosive start against Pakistan, who were left regretting missed opportunities in the field. Captain Rohit Sharma scored a half-century before getting dismissed, and his opening partner Shubman Gill also reached a fifty. Virat Kohli and KL Rahul were looking to build a strong total for India, but rain forced the match to be postponed to the reserve day.
What happens if the reserve day is also affected by rain?
In the Super 4 format, all four qualified teams face each other once. Currently, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are at the top of the table, both with 2 points. Pakistan leads with a better Net Run Rate (+1.051) compared to Sri Lanka’s (+0.420).
In contrast, India has not yet opened their account in the Super 4s, as the match against Pakistan was their first in this stage. Bangladesh is in fourth place with a points tally of -0.749 and is almost out of contention for the final.
If the India vs. Pakistan Super 4 match is washed out, the points will be shared between the two teams. This would give Pakistan 3 points, allowing them to maintain their top position in the points table, while India would have 1 point.
A washout could potentially harm India’s chances if they fail to win at least one of their next two matches. With Sri Lanka already securing one win, they would stay ahead of India in the points table.
Although India still has two more matches to play against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in the Super 4s, there’s no guarantee that those matches won’t also be affected by rain. Therefore, rain-disrupted contests, including the one against Pakistan, are not favorable for the Indian team.
Khushi Sikarwar
