The Asia Cup 2023 match between India and Pakistan, which was scheduled to take place at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Pallekele on Saturday, September 2, was postponed because of persistent rain. The weather forecast was not looking good for the much-anticipated matchup, but it got better just one day before the game, giving fans hope that they will get to watch two of Asia’s heavyweights go head-to-head. There were dark clouds lurking over the matchup.
When play began for the day, Indian captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and decided his team would bat first. However, the decision ended up being unsuccessful as Pakistan’s seamers took excellent advantage of the cloudy conditions and brought India’s score down to 66/4 after 14.1 overs. India was able to post a respectable total of 266 runs in 48.5 overs because of an outstanding partnership between Hardik Pandya (87 runs off 90 balls) and Ishan Kishan (82 runs off 81 balls).
The heavens opened up after the first inning, making it impossible to continue play. This dashed the aspirations of millions of spectators all around the world who wanted to see a complete match between India and Pakistan. As a direct consequence of this, both sides finished with the same number of points, and Pakistan moved into first place in Group A with three points after playing two matches. On the other side, India came in second place after earning one point from one of their games played.
The game against Nepal, which is now considered a must-win for the Men in Blue, will take place on Monday, September 4, at the same location. The Rohit Sharma-captained team would need to defeat Nepal or draw with them in the game to advance to the Super 4 phases. In the meantime, Pakistan is one of the teams that has already advanced to the next stage of the competition.
The four wickets that Shaheen Afridi took knocked India to their knees.
In the ten overs that Shaheen Afridi bowled during India’s innings, he took four wickets and caused a lot of damage to the Indian batting lineup. His four-fer featured the coveted wickets of Hardik Pandya (87), Ravindra Jadeja (14), Rohit Sharma (11), and Virat Kohli (4). Haris Rauf (3/58, 9 overs) and Naseem Shah (3/36, 8.5 overs) provided valuable assistance to Afridi throughout the innings.
During this time, X was buzzing with activity from fans who were cheated out of seeing an exciting match between India and Pakistan.
Some of the posts are as follows:
Masterclass from Rohit Sharma to bat first. Good batting practice for our batters and our bowlers are still fresh
#INDvPAK pic.twitter.com/IDdTlnpaNE
— R A T N I S H (@LoyalSachinFan) September 2, 2023
The match has been Called off Due to Rain; Alhamdulillah, Pakistan Becomes the First Team to enter the Super Four
.#PAKvIND #INDvPAK #INDvsPAK pic.twitter.com/cqdooK4cWh
— Shaharyar Ejaz
(@SharyOfficial) September 2, 2023
The rain saved Pakistan today but don’t worry we’ll meet again in Super Four. #INDvPAK pic.twitter.com/Ie1cICOh2V
— R A T N I S H (@LoyalSachinFan) September 2, 2023
He is the only guy to blame for not coming to Pakistan and ruining such a big event by shifting to Sri Lanka with this Weather
.#JayShah #PAKvIND #INDvPAK #INDvsPAK pic.twitter.com/T1uktPZT8J
— Shaharyar Ejaz
What a downer!!
Chalo, i guess we’ll have one more soon.— Shoaib Akhtar (@shoaib100mph) September 2, 2023
India
