Inclement weather might play spoilsport in the highly-anticipated India versus Pakistan clash in the Asia Cup 2023, slated to be held at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Saturday (September 2).

According to a Hindustan Times report, it has been raining quite heavily for the last two days in Pallekle and the forecast isn’t encouraging for Saturday as well.

The lowest predicted rain percentage for Saturday is 91%, which makes it impractical for the match to take place.

Matches getting washed out in Sri Lanka during August-September aren’t something new. There is a reason why cricket matches rarely happen during these two months in the island nation.

Pallekele has staged 33 ODIs so far and only three of them have been played during August-September, giving a clear indication that Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) avoids hosting matches in the aforementioned months due to peak monsoon season.

Notably, Sri Lanka was not supposed to host the Asia Cup 2023. It was a last-minute decision as the Asian Cricket Council had no choice but to opt for a hybrid model after BCCI refused to send its team to Pakistan, the designated host for the tournament.

While four games of the continental tournament will be played in Pakistan, the rest of the fixtures including all of India’s matches and the final will be held in Sri Lanka.

If the India versus Pakistan match gets abandoned due to rain, the two arch-rivals will share points. Pakistan will then qualify for the Super-4 stage from Group A as they have already thrashed Nepal by 238 runs in the Asia Cup opener. On the other hand, India will have to beat Nepal in their group fixture to progress to the next round.

(Hindustan Times Inputs)