“Why not have the games start at 1:30?” – Ravi Shastri on how rains may have had the least impact on the 2023 Asia Cup

The reason why the games do not begin at 1:30 as opposed to 3:00 was brought up by Ravi Shastri, a former head coach of India.

On September 17 at the R Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in Colombo, India and Sri Lanka will face off to decide who would win the prestigious Asia Cup 2023 championship. After winning the toss, Sri Lanka decided to bat first. The match’s start has been postponed, nevertheless, due to the weather.  According to the 61-year-old, if the games had been played earlier, it would not have required the reserve day.

“Why don’t the games begin at 1:30? By then, the games have already begun in India. Before the rain came, you would have completed 20–25 overs if you had started at 1-1:30. Without the reserve day, it’s possible that all of the games in the tournament would have been finished. Something for the organisers to think about,” the former cricket player said on TV.

Sri Lanka has made a name for itself as one of the most fearsome teams in the present continental championship. They have also only lost one of their previous 15 ODIs, and that was against India.

On the other side, India just lost to Bangladesh while practically all of their key players choose to sit out. Notably, Jasprit Bumrah and KL Rahul, two of India’s top players, have made impressive recoveries from their respective ailments, and Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, and Virat Kohli have all been playing outstandingly. They are anticipated to maintain their excellent play in the summit match as well.

In the weeks preceding the championship game, injuries occurred to both Sri Lanka and India. The team led by Dasun Shanaka is likely the one who would be most negatively impacted by it because they will no longer have frontline spinner Mahesh Theekshana for the rest of the competition. Axar Patel was ruled out of the final, therefore Washington Sundar was added as India’s backup.