With the announcement of reserve day for the IND-PAK clash in the super Fours of the Asia Cup 2023, Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha opens on the addition of Reserve day rule in the tournament.
Hathurusingha on Reserve day Rule in Asia Cup 2023
The ACC council has announced the reserve day for the highly anticipated IND-PAK clash in the Super Fours and other matches didn’t get the advantage of reserve day.
On this occasion, the Bangladesh head coach opened on the reserve day and said that is not fair to change the rules in the middle of the tournament. There will be points split in case of match cancellation leading to complications for the qualifications of finals.
“I’m sure there is a technical committee, represented by every participating country, six nations. So, they must have decided with some other reason. Yes, it’s not ideal. We would love to have an extra day as well. Other than that, I don’t have much comment on that because they have made a decision,” said Hathurusingha.
“We haven’t spoken about that [reserve day] because once you’ve made a decision, we don’t have much say. So, if we were consulted before, we would have our comment, but because it’s already made, I don’t have any concerns. And we just get on with what we were asked. I haven’t seen this kind of thing in another tournament. Changing rules in the middle of the tournament, so that’s the new thing I can add to that,” he added.
When asked about the decision to BCB director Akram Khan, he said “The decision was taken by ACC and it was not discussed with us.”
Chandika Hathursingha spoke about their upcoming match on Saturday saying his side needs some consistency for their second match in the Super Four against Sri Lanka.
“We’re very much aware of what happened in the past. But we have been playing good cricket. So, we have to play in a very different condition from the last two or three games against different opposition,” said Hathurusingha.
“So, it’s a big challenge for us but we talk about how we are much more capable than what we have shown here. So the inconsistency is the one we need to address. And then we actually talk about that and looking forward to having a good show,” he said.
When they had gambled on using Mehidy Hasan as an opener against Afghanistan, proved to work, but Hathurusingha did not reveal the permanent change in the batting line-up.
“Yeah, we will think about it [whether Mehedy will open or not]. I don’t know. We haven’t decided that. Depends on tomorrow once we come here, looking at the condition. The condition of the pitch may change from now to tomorrow because of the weather. We don’t know. The weather is very difficult last few days, so we have to make that decision as late as possible,” he concluded.
He said that injured Najmul Hossain was in rehab and the team management doesn’t want him to play in the continental event despite his confidence in his fitness. The team management wants him to rest so he can be ready for the upcoming World Cup.
“Yes, unfortunately, he’s out for probably a couple of weeks, but the good thing is that we diagnosed it early and we take precautionary action because as we all know the World Cup coming up, so we don’t want to take much chances. If not for the World Cup, our decision would have been slightly different,” concluded Hathurusingha.
Bangladesh will be playing their second match in the Super Fours of the Asia Cup 2023 against Sri Lanka on September 09, at R. Premadasa Stadium.
