Colombo, venue of Super 4s stage has a forecast of heavy rain in coming days.
The Asia Cup, which is being hosted by PCB, is being held in a ‘Hybrid Model’ with India playing all their matches in Sri Lanka after refusing to travel to Pakistan.
However, matches in Sri Lanka have been marred due to rain, with it affecting both of India’s matches in Pallekele. With more rain forecast in Colombo, which is to host the Super 4s stage of the Asia Cup 2023, there were talks of shifting matches to Hambantota but the Asian Cricket Council has stuck to its original itinerary.
“Well, somebody should find the real story. It appears from cricketing points, that it was probably the players who didn’t want to go to Hambantota. So administrators had to at the last moment, change it from Hambantota to Colombo despite knowing Colombo could have pretty dicey weather,” Gavaskar told ‘Sports Today’.
The former India captain clarified that he was not referring to players from any particular country. He also showed sympathy with the organizers as often they get criticized by the fans, who are missing out on quality cricket due to intemperate weather.
“When I meant players, I didn’t mean players of one team but players of all teams that were supposed to be there. It is easy to point fingers at administrators and they can be easily made scapegoats. It is really important to find out why despite knowing that the weather forecast of Colombo won’t be good, matches were not held in Hambantota,” he added.
Rain can also play spoilsport on September 10 when India is scheduled to face Pakistan for the second time in the tournament. ACC has allotted a reserved day for the encounter as a backup.
“You want players to be in good mental space. The gym facilities, and practice facilities need to be good but at times like these, we need to look at the larger picture and Hambantota has less chance of rain and Colombo has more chance of rain.
And when I say experimentation, it is a chance to prepare for the World Cup. But by no means I am saying that the Asia Cup is less important. We also need to win the tournament,” he said.