Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are set to face each other in the Super Four game of Asia Cup on September 9 at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. While this is the first game for Sri Lanka in this round, Bangladesh are in a must-win situation having already lost their previous game to Pakistan. However, ahead of the game, the ‘reserve day’ controversy has taken the centrestage in the tournament.
The Asian Cricket Council, on Friday, decided to add a reserve day only for the much-anticipated India vs Pakistan clash. The match will take place or be completed on Monday (September 11) if rain intervenes on Sunday. However, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are not happy with the reserve day only being added to IND vs PAK encounter when the rain forecast is for all the matches of the Super Four round and the final.
Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha stated that the decision made was not ideal and that even Bangladesh would’ve liked to have a reserve day for their matches. He also stated that they were not even consulted before making a change in the playing conditions for the tournament.
“There is a technical committee (in Asia Cup) represented by every participating country – 6 nations. They might have decided it for some other reason. It is not ideal, and we also would have liked to have an extra day. 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,” he said while speaking in the press conference ahead of the match against Bangladesh.
Sri Lanka head coach Chris Silverwood also conceded that he was surprised to know that the reserve was only added for one match of Super Four round. “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? To be honest, I see it only becoming a problem if it provides points to the teams, and affects us,” he said.
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