After the group match between India and Pakistan was washed out, intermittent rain pushed the Asia Cup Super 4 clash between the two teams to a reserve day on Sunday. India were 147 for two in 24.1 overs when heavy rain lashed the R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo. The rain stopped after that but the resumption was delayed due to the wet outfield. A couple of wet patches on the ground was the main reason. The groundstaff even used fans to dry the areas apart from using sponges. However, before the game could resume heavy rain arrived again and forced the game to be moved to Monday.
While the reserve day was kept as insurance for the India vs Pakistan clash, the weather forecast isn’t painting a particularly rosy picture on Monday too. On the reserve day, play will resume at 3 pm IST. Before the match resumes, here is an hourly forecast of the Colombo weather –
At 2pm: Temperature – 27 degree Celsius, rain probability – 49 percent
At 3pm: Temperature – 28 degree Celsius, rain probability – 49 percent
At 4pm: Temperature – 28 degree Celsius, rain probability – 71 percent
At 5pm: Temperature – 27 degree Celsius, rain probability – 71 percent
At 6pm: Temperature – 28 degree Celsius, rain probability – 49 percent
At 7pm: Temperature – 27 degree Celsius, rain probability – 63 percent
At 8pm: Temperature – 27 degree Celsius, rain probability – 49 percent
At 9pm: Temperature – 28 degree Celsius, rain probability – 49 percent
At 10pm: Temperature – 27 degree Celsius, rain probability – 51 percent
At 11pm: Temperature – 27 degree Celsius, rain probability – 47 percent
The weather forecast has been taken from AccuWeather.
The activation of reserve day also means that in less than 24 hours of completion of the Pakistan game, India will meet Sri Lanka in their next Super Four encounter on Tuesday. Before the weather played spoilsport, Virat Kohli and K L Rahul were batting on 8 and 17 respectively after openers Rohit Sharma (56) and Shubman Gill (58) struck fine half-centuries.
India’s Asia Cup opener against Pakistan was called off due to rain.
The weather has been a subject of intense debate through the Sri Lanka leg of Asia Cup. Rain is expected in the Sri Lankan capital throughout the tournament.
Asian Cricket Council’s decision to keep a reserve day only for Sunday’s game and the final also triggered a controversy.
(With PTI Inputs)
Topics mentioned in this article
