There is a possibility of rain on the ongoing Asia Cup matches in Sri Lanka. The league match between India and Pakistan has been rained off. There is a Super Four match between the two teams in Colombo on Sunday, but it is being feared that like the Kandy match, this match may also not be held due to rain. In fact, the possibility of heavy rain and storm has been expressed in Colombo from Saturday night to Monday.
In such a situation, this match can also be gifted to the weather. This is the reason why the 'gentleman game' administrators of India and Pakistan have started throwing mud at each other.
However, the Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan has said on social media platform X that Monday, September 11 will be reserve day. At present, this is the only match in the entire Asia Cup for which a reserve day has been kept.
Reserve day means that if the match between India and Pakistan on Sunday, 10th September is interrupted due to any reason then it will be completed on Monday. The dispute between the two cricket boards started when Pakistan got the right to host the Asia Cup.
The Indian board refused to send its team to Pakistan citing the safety of its players. Under this pressure, the Pakistan Cricket Board proposed to hold some matches of this tournament in Dubai. But this proposal was also not liked by the Indian Cricket Board.
Jai Shah, the most powerful man in Indian cricket, is currently also the President of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC). It is believed that he used his influence to the full extent to ensure that during the tournament, Pakistan played minimum number of matches in its home ground and most of the matches were played in Colombo and Kandy in Sri Lanka.
Actually, these days there is rainy season in Kandy and Colombo of Sri Lanka. Whereas the weather in Hambantota and Dambulla is comparatively better. Regarding the reason for matches not being held at these two places, it was also said that there are no good hotels here.
This is the reason why matches are being organized in rain affected centers i.e. Colombo and Kandy. However, this entire argument does not hold. Because in 2005, the Indian cricket team had played the entire tri-series tournament in Dambulla and no complaint was made by the team regarding the facilities.
Compared to 2005, after 18 years the situation in terms of basic facilities has only improved. The situation at that time was also bad because the Sri Lankan Army was fighting a war against LTTE near Dambulla. The Indian team's complaint regarding Hambantota may be justified as the stadium is in a forest area and the team has to cover a long distance to reach the hotel.
But on the other hand, it should also have been noted that no matches are organized in Colombo and Kandy during the month of August and half of September due to rain. This aspect should have been put forward by the Sri Lankan Cricket Board earlier, at least it would have avoided the current situation.
It is also interesting to see that the dispute between BCCI and PCB seems to be increasing regarding the organization of Asia Cup matches. At the same time, in an effort to improve mutual relations, Indian Cricket Board President Roger Binny and Board official Rajeev Shukla are visiting Pakistan to watch the Asia Cup matches.
But the most sharp attack in this controversy has been made by former Pakistan Cricket Board President Najam Sethi on BCCI Secretary and Asian Cricket Council President Jai Shah. He has alleged that Jay Shah did not allow the matches to be organized either in Pakistan or in Dubai due to political reasons related to his father Amit Shah's Bharatiya Janata Party.
However, it is important to know here that it was during the presidency of Najam Sethi that the Pakistan Cricket Board had accepted the proposal of hosting the Asia Cup with Sri Lanka. Najam Sethi tweeted, “Only Jay Shah can explain why the option of hosting the Asia Cup in Dubai or Pakistan was rejected and why Sri Lanka was included in the hosting despite all the reasons and logic. “We are seeing that the centers that have been selected in Sri Lanka are also proving to be a problem.”
After Najam Sethi's tweet, the dispute between the two boards seems to be deepening.
According to information received from reliable sources, top officials of the Sri Lankan Cricket Board had suggested to hold the India-Pakistan high voltage match to be held in Hambantota on Sunday.
But this suggestion was not accepted by the President of Asian Cricket Council and BCCI Secretary. Citing the distance of the stadium from the hotel, lack of facilities and the difficulties faced by broadcasters, officials and cricket fans due to last-minute changes, he has not given approval to shift the match to another place. The Asian Cricket Council then announced that there was no change in the venue and the remaining matches would be played in Colombo.
Meanwhile, Asian Cricket Council Chairman Jay Shah, in his efforts to ease tensions between the two boards, has said, “All full-time members, media rights holders, and official partners for in-stadium activities have all been fully informed about the situation in Pakistan from the very beginning. “Apprehensions were expressed regarding organizing the tournament.”
Apparently, the BCCI Secretary had also underlined the poor economic condition of Pakistan and the continuous changes taking place in the Pakistan Cricket Board. Apart from this, he has also described the permission to organize a 50-over cricket tournament in Dubai as putting the fitness and health of the players at risk just before the ODI World Cup.
Now less than a month is left for the ODI World Cup.
Obviously, there may be a heated debate between the two cricket boards in the coming next week. There has also been a delay from BCCI in releasing the schedule for organizing cricket's biggest Mahakumbh. It is also possible that changes may be needed in the coming days.
In such a situation, everyone's eyes will be on the Indian Cricket Board and Pakistan Cricket Board. There has been a thaw in cricket relations between the two countries since the 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai. The Indian cricket team last toured Pakistan in 2005–06, while the Pakistani team last visited India in 2012.
Also Read: Expensive tickets, empty stadium now floodlights become a problem in Asia cup
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