Sri Lanka and Pakistan are set to play a virtual semi-final in the Asia Cup 2023 on Thursday, 14 September. Both teams are coming from losses against India in the Super 4 stage, but in a contrasting manner. While Pakistan were outplayed by India in a 2-day, rain-marred affair, Sri Lanka gave India a tremendous run for their money on September 12, Tuesday.
Both teams, who had come into the tournament with brilliant victories were humbled by India and now will play a decider to go into the final of the tournament.
Both Pakistan and Sri Lanka’s matches against India saw interruptions from rain. While the Pakistan match was halted for long hours, the Sri Lanka game only saw a short delay.
The match between the two teams on Thursday expects a decent chunk of rainfall as well. According to the prediction, it is expected to rain in the morning and in the afternoon ahead of the match.
The probability of rainfall decreases in the evening, but the teams might have to wait for a long time before the groundstaff can get the turf ready for some action. Barring the rain, the sky is expected to remain cloudy, throughout the day.
There are no reserve days set for the match and in case the match gets washed out, Sri Lanka will advance into the finals owing to a better net run rate, set to be played on Sunday, September 17. This will be Dasun Shanaka’s side’s second straight appearance in the final of the tournament. In 2022, the team had won the tournament by beating Pakistan, but in the T20 format.
Pakistan have already announced their playing XI for the Thursday game and have made as many as 5 changes in their line-up. The team has been forced to sit out Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf and Salman Agha due to injuries and have chosen to drop opener Fakhar Zaman and pace bowling all-rounder Faheem Ashraf.
