Sri Lanka head coach Chris Silverwood and Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurasingha have expressed their displeasure over the provision of a reserve day for the Super 4 round-robin match between India and Pakistan. The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) had announced on Friday that if rain disrupted the match between India and Pakistan on September 10, the match would be played again on September 11.
However, no reserve day is planned for other games in the tournament. All matches in the Super 4 stage will be played in Colombo and rain is forecast for the next few days.
Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurasingha said he did not know why the “playing conditions” (the rules set for the matches) of the Asia Cup suddenly changed. “The Asian Cup has a technical committee represented by the six teams participating in the tournament. They might have taken this decision for another reason,” he said on the eve of the Super 4 leg against Sri Lanka.
Hathurasingha stated that no unanimous decision has been taken on the issue and his team would also like to keep a reserve day for the games. “This is not ideal and we would also like an extra day,” he said.
Hathurasingha also pointed out that the officials concerned did not consult other teams before making their decision. He said: “I cannot comment further as they have already made the decision. If they had consulted us earlier, we would have expressed our opinion.”
Sri Lanka coach Chris Silverwood said he was surprised when he was informed about the decision to add an extra day for the India-Pakistan match. He said: “Of course I was a little surprised when I first heard it. But we don’t organize the tournament, so there’s not much we can do about it.”
The Sri Lanka coach said India or Pakistan could gain an unfair advantage through the reserve day. “To be honest, I only think it’s a problem as long as it helps other teams score points and it impacts our campaign,” he said.
