BCB contradicts Hathurusingha's statement about reserve day in Asia Cup
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.
Sri Lanka head coach Chris Silverwood and Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha were not at all happy with the Asian Cricket Council's decision to keep a reserve day only for the India vs Pakistan Super 4 stage match in Asia Cup 2023.
The ACC on Friday, announced that the blockbuster India-Pakistan will have a reserve day on September 11 (Monday) in case the match gets interrupted due to rain or bad weather on September 10 (Sunday) in Colombo. The weather predictions for this weekend and next week are not pleasant. There is a 90% chance of rain on Sunday.
On Monday, the India vs Pakistan match will begin from where it was suspended on Sunday. The other teams won't have the same privilege. If play is suspended due to rad or bad weather, they will share points.
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Sri Lanka and Bangladesh play the first Super 4 match of the Colombo leg and the coaches of both teams were a bit annoyed at the reserve day privilege India and Pakistan will get for their match.
"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's not ideal that only India and Pakistan have a reserve day for their match
"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.
But just hours after that, the BCB contradicted his statement on X, formerly Twitter. "A reserve day for India Pakistan contest in Super 11 Asia Cup Super 4 stage has been added that effectively revised the Asia Cup playing condition. To clarify on the position, the decision was taken with the consent of all four participating teams and ACC," they tweeted.
Sri Lanka coach, 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.
