India and Pakistan are all set to clash for the second time in the 2023 Asia Cup, this time at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The first match between the two teams seemed set to cough up a thriller after India’s remarkable fightback batting first but the Pakistan chase never happened due to rain.
With showers playing a major role in the rest of the matches as well, the tournament organisers have announced that a reserve day would be kept for this fixture alone, reported Hindustan Times.
This decision has been met with much backlash, including from Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha himself, but it does look like this reserve day will now be used after all considering the weather predictions coming in with just hours to go for the match.
According to AccuWeather, the probability of precipitation is set to be at 90% throughout the afternoon in Colombo today, which is in an indication of even incessant rains throughout that period. It goes down to only 85 percent after sunset which makes it all the more difficult for the match to take place, likely pushing it to Monday.
However, in some positive update, the weather in Colombo this morning seems promising. Despite scattered clouds, the sun is playing hide and seek raising hopes of an on-time start. But here’s the bummer. While the forecast looks good until the start of scheduled play, it is only in the afternoon – around 3PM – that things appear dull.
There are 80 percent chances of showers, which only swells to 90 percent around 5PM with no signs if slowing down for the remainder of the day.
Despite a reserve day, the first priority of the match officials will be to get a result on Sunday itself. In case of time lost and delays, the overs will be trimmed and the match timings can be extended by 90 minutes.
If the game cannot be completed, the action will move to Monday where play will resume from where it stopped today.