Colombo: Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha was left unhappy over a reserve day being allocated for just the India-Pakistan game in the Super Four stage of the Asia Cup, saying that such a thing like this hasn’t happened in any competition.
On Friday, the tournament organisers announced that the India-Pakistan Super Four stage match in the Asia Cup will have a reserve day if rain affects the highly anticipated game to be held in Colombo on Sunday.
India and Pakistan met in the league stage at Pallekele last week, but the game was abandoned due to persistent rain. Rain is also highly likely to affect all the Super Four matches to be held in Colombo.
"I'm sure there is a technical committee, represented by every participating country, six nations. So, they must have decided 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 much comment on that because they have made a decision," Hathurusingha was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz ahead of their Super Four game against Sri Lanka on Saturday.
With other matches not having reserve days, it will lead to points being split between the sides and thus lead to a logjam in deciding the finalists. "We haven't spoken about that (reserve day) because once you've made a decision, we don't have much say."
"So, if we were consulted before, we would have our comment, but because it's already made, I don't have any concern. And 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.
Former Bangladesh captain and current Bangladesh Cricket Board director Akram Khan, who represents Bangladesh in ACC's Asia Cup technical committee, was quoted as saying in the report that their opinion was not sought by the ACC over a reserve day for the India-Pakistan game. "The decision was taken by ACC, and it was not discussed with us."
While addressing his pre-match press conference, Sri Lankan 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 organise 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."
