File photo of the 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 spare 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 rain plays spoilsport on September 10. However, the other matches will not have a spare day, although rain is predicted in the Sri Lankan capital throughout the Super 4s. Hathurasingha said he was not aware of the reason behind the sudden change in the Asia Cup playing conditions.
“There is a technical committee (in the Asia Cup) represented by each participating country – 6 nations. They could have decided it for a different reason,” the Bangladesh coach said during the pre-match press conference ahead of their Super 4 match against Sri Lanka at Saturday.
Hinting that no steps were taken to take a consensus call on the issue, Hathurasingha said his team would also like a spare day.
“It’s not ideal and we would have liked an extra day as well,” he added.
Hathurasingha also hinted that the officials concerned did not consult other teams before arriving at the decision.
“But I have no further comment on this because they have already taken a decision and had they consulted us earlier, we would have given our opinion,” Hathurasingha said.
Silverwood said he was surprised when he was told about the decision to have an extra day for the Indo-Pak match.
“Yeah! Look, obviously, I was a little surprised when I first heard that. But we’re not organizing the competition, so there’s not much we can do about it, right?” asked Silverwood.The Lankan coach also said that the reserve day could give a bit of an unfair advantage to either India or Pakistan if they manage to log points on that day.
“To be honest, I see it only becoming a problem if it gives points to the teams and affects us,” Silverwood said.
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