A reserve day for the India-Pakistan contest in the Super 11 Asia Cup Super 4 stage has been added with the consent of all four participating teams, as clarified by the Bangladesh Cricket Board and ACC (Asian Cricket Council).
The Bangladesh Cricket Board tweeted, ‘A reserve day for the India-Pakistan contest in the Super 11 Asia Cup Super 4 stage has been added, effectively revising the Asia Cup playing conditions. To clarify our position, this decision was made with the consent of all four participating teams and the ACC.’
Earlier, there were media reports that former Bangladesh captain and current BCB director Akram Khan, representing Bangladesh in ACC’s Asia Cup technical committee, insisted that their opinion was not sought by ACC regarding the reserve day.
Akram Khan stated, ‘The decision was made by ACC, and it was not discussed with us.’
Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha expressed his opinion, saying that having a reserve day only for the India-Pakistan game was not ideal. His team would have also liked to take advantage of a reserve day due to the forecast of heavy rain for the remainder of this week’s Asia Cup fixtures in Colombo.
‘I’m sure there is a technical committee, represented by every participating country – six nations. So, they must have made the decision with some other reason. Yes, it’s not ideal. We would love to have an extra day as well. Other than that, I don’t have many comments on that because they have made a decision,’ Hathurusingha told reporters ahead of their game against Sri Lanka in Colombo on Friday.
‘We haven’t discussed that [reserve day] because once a decision is made, we don’t have much say. If we were consulted before, we would have had our comments, but because it’s already decided, I don’t have any concerns. We just get on with what we were asked. I haven’t seen this kind of thing in another tournament, changing rules in the middle of the tournament. So, that’s the new thing I can add to that,’ he added.
While addressing his pre-match press conference, Sri Lanka head coach Chris Silverwood also expressed surprise over the India-Pakistan clash having a reserve day, stating that such a move would give an unfair advantage to the two teams.
‘Yeah, look, obviously, I was a little surprised when I heard it first. But we don’t organize the competition, so we can’t do a whole lot about it, right? To be honest, I see it only becoming a problem if it provides points to the teams and affects us.’”