Reports suggest that the eagerly anticipated Asia Cup 2023 final might need to change its venue away from Colombo due to the unpredictable and adverse weather conditions prevailing in the city. According to sources cited by TimesNow, there’s a strong possibility that the final match of the tournament could be shifted to the Pallekele International Stadium in Kandy, as the weather forecast for Colombo on September 17 is far from promising.
Interestingly, the Pallekele International Stadium in Kandy had already hosted three group stage matches earlier in the tournament, including the highly anticipated India versus Pakistan encounter. While the first match between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh concluded without any weather disruptions, India’s matches against Pakistan and Nepal faced rain-related interruptions.
The India-Pakistan clash had to be abandoned due to rain, and India’s final group stage match against Nepal was curtailed by rain, resulting in a ten-wicket victory for India under the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method.
However, the weather conditions in Colombo appear to be more severe, as the India versus Pakistan game had to be moved to a reserve day due to continuous rainfall. When the rain arrived at the venue, India was comfortably positioned at 147 for two in 24.1 overs, making it unlikely that any further play would be possible.
Consequently, the match is set to resume at 3:00 PM IST today from where it left off on Sunday. It will remain a 50-over contest, with the DLS method coming into play in case rain disrupts the match once again.”
