File photo of Bangladesh cricket team© AFP
Sri Lanka coach Chris Silverwood and his Bangladesh counterpart Chandika Hathurasingha on Friday expressed displeasure over the unilateral decision to provide a reserve day for the Super 4 match between India and Pakistan. Earlier in the day, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) announced that the Indo-Pak match could resume on September 11 if the rain plays spoilsport on September 10. However, the other matches will not have a reserve day though rain is predicted in the Sri Lankan capital through the Super 4s. Hathurasingha said he was not aware of the reason behind the sudden change in Asia Cup playing conditions.
“There is a technical committee (in Asia Cup) represented by every participating country – 6 nations. They might have decided it for some other reason,” the Bangladesh coach said during the pre-match press conference ahead of their Super 4 match against Sri Lanka on Saturday.
Hinting that no move was made to take a consensual call on the issue, Hathurasingha said his team also would have liked to have a reserve day.
“It is not ideal, and we also would have liked to have an extra day,” he added.
Hathurasingha also hinted that the officials concerned did not consult other teams before arriving at the decision.
“But I don’t have any more comment on this because they have already made a decision and had they consulted us earlier we would have given our opinion,” said Hathurasingha.
Silverwood said he was surprised when conveyed about the decision to have an extra day for the Indo-Pak match.
“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?” asked Silverwood. The Lankan coach also said the reserve day could give a bit of an unfair advantage to either India or Pakistan if they manage to log in points on that particular day.
“To be honest, I see it only becoming a problem if it provides points to the teams, and affects us,” said Silverwood.
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