The Super-4 fixture between India and Pakistan has become a source of major controversy, leading to severe criticism of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Secretary and Asian Cricket Council (ACC) President Jay Shah both on social media and by an ex-Team India cricketer.
The main reason behind the controversy is the reserve day (Monday) kept for the marquee clash between the two neighbors, something that has been termed "shameful" by cricket pundits and fans alike, considering no other Super-4 game has been accorded this sort of privilege.
The main reason behind the controversy is the reserve day (Monday) kept for the marquee clash between the two neighbors, something that has been termed "shameful" by cricket pundits and fans alike, considering no other Super-4 game has been accorded this sort of privilege.
How Fans & Cricket Pundits Reacted to This Move?
Ex-India cricketer Venkatesh Prasad, known for not mincing his words, described the development as "unethical" because the tournament had different rules for the remaining two teams - Sri Lanka and Bangladesh than for India and Pakistan.
"The organizers have made a mockery and it is unethical to have a tournament with rules being different for the other two teams," Prasad wrote on X.
The move irked both the Bangladesh and Sri Lankan team coaches.
"I haven't seen this kind of thing in another tournament, this changing rules in the middle of the tournament. I am sure there is a technical committee that has representations from every participating countries. They must have decided for some other reason. Yes, it is not ideal. We would love to have an extra day also. Other than that, I don't have much to comment because they have made a decision," Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha told reporters in a press conference.
"To be honest it will be a problem if the reserve day then provides points to the teams and not someone else, but nothing we can do about so we keep preparing and do the best we can," Sri Lanka coach Chris Silverwood added.
Interestingly, there was another twist in the escalating row, as soon after the governing cricket bodies in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh came out with clarifications that the decision to keep a reserve day for the India-Pakistan game was unanimously taken by the four boards together and hence, should not be viewed through any other prism.
Despite Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and Sri Lanka Cricket's (SLC) backing of the ACC (read Jay Shah), it did not stop netizens from labeling Shah a "hypocrite" who can conjure up different rules for different teams in the same competition.
Others even accused him of destroying the reputation of the gentlemen's game with his politically-loaded decisions, pointing out that it was Shah who shifted the tournament to Sri Lanka from Pakistan, the original host due to tense diplomatic relations between Islamabad and New Delhi.
India-Pakistan Contest's Current Status
While Shah may have received a lot of negative comments for keeping a reserve day for the second-round match of the Asia Cup between the Babar Azam-led side and the Men in Blue, the move did eventually come into play on Sunday.
After Azam won the toss and opted to field first, Rohit Sharma alongside fellow Indian opener Shubman Gill tore the Pakistan bowling attack apart to put India in command at 147/2 in 24.1 overs when a heavy downpour came to play spoilsport in the contest.
This sent the match into a reserve day, which means that Team India will resume proceedings from where they left off on the weekend.
Still, chances of rain once again disrupting the game on Monday are extremely high since there is a 90 percent chance of showers late in the afternoon according to weather forecasters.
If that is the case, cricket lovers will once again be let down, just like they felt when the previous 2023 Asia Cup encounter between Rohit Sharma's men and the Green Army was rained out earlier this month.