Pakistan became the first team to reach the Super Four stage of Asia Cup 2023 after sharing points with India as the blockbuster match between arch-rivals was abandoned due to persistent rains and wet outfields.
Pakistan could not start the chase of 267 runs target due to rains during the inning break which continued intermittently till 9:50 pm.
At this stage, umpires announced calling off the match after a discussion with the ground staff.
A minimum of 20 overs play was needed to constitute a match which was not possible due to persistent drizzle and wet outfields.
After early blows, India managed to set a 267-run target for Pakistan in the Asia Cup 2023 match at Pallekele International Stadium on Saturday evening.
After winning the toss and electing to bat first in overcast conditions and possible rain interruptions, India lost four wickets with 66 runs on the board in 14.1 overs due to some exceptional fast bowling by Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf.
Shaheen Afridi first clean-bowled Rohit and then Virat to reduce India to 27/2 when the play resumed after a break due to rains.
Haris took two more wickets to put India on the back foot.
With key players skipper Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shbman Gill and Shreyas Iyer back in the hut, Ishan Kishan and Pandya steadied the ship by stitching 138 runs partnership.
At this stage, India was looking to set an above-par target of at least more than 300 runs but quicks again brought Pakistan back in the game by bowling India out for 266 runs.
During the middle over, ineffective spin bowling and sloppy fielding helped Indian batters to build a long partnership.
Again fast bowlers come to the rescue. Haris Rauf removed dangerous-looking Ishan to break the partnership. Then Shaheen took the key wicket of Pandya to bring Pakistan back into the game.
The last four batters only managed to add 27 runs and India was bowled out at 266 runs in 48.5 overs.
Pandya top scored with 87 runs while Ishan made 82 runs.
Shaheen took four while Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah bagged three wickets each.
As fans were looking for real action, rains continued to disrupt the action.
Shaheen Shah Afridi’s lethal in-swingers have sent back Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to the pavilion! 🤯
What a start for Pakistan! 🇵🇰#AsiaCup2023 #PAKvIND pic.twitter.com/wDNqQDYlH1
— AsianCricketCouncil (@ACCMedia1) September 2, 2023
LIVE Updates: https://pakobserver.net/asiacup2023/
This year’s tournament is being played in the 50-over format, providing a chance to both teams to assess their capabilities ahead of the ICC Men’s World Cup 2023.
Six teams namely India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan are part of the Asia Cup 2023.
Pakistan vs India Match Time
The match will start at 2:30pm Pakistan time and in the USA it will be 5:30 am while it will be 3:00pm in India.
Pakistan vs India Match Venue
The expected thrilling game will be played at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Pallekele.
Kandy Weather Today
Latest Kandy weather update for September 2 shows it is likely to remain mostly cloudy throughout the day and night with up to 16 percent rain chance, according to weather portal. It is being hoped that rain would not disrupt the much-awaited game.
Meanwhile, the Met Office of UK and Sri Lanka have predicted up to 70pc rain chance in the city till 6:30pm.
Pakistan and India Squads
Pakitan: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Imamul Haq, Salman Ali Agha, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf.
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya (vc), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumraj, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Sanju Samson (travelling reserve).
