Lanka-Pakistan do-or-die ‘Super Four’ match of Asia Cup today

Sports Reporter :
Sri Lanka Cricket team will face Pakistan Cricket team in the do-or-die ‘Super Four’ match of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Asia Cup match at Ranasinghe Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, the capital city of Sri Lanka today.

The Day/Night affair will start at 3.30pm (Bangladesh Standard Time).

Private satellite sports channel of Bangladesh T Sports, private satellite channel of Bangladesh GTV, international sports channel Star Sports will telecast the match live.

India confirmed their final berth bagging four points from two matches.

Sri Lanka and Pakistan collected two points each from their respective two matches.

On the other hand, Bangladesh were out of the title race.

Pakistan defeated Bangladesh by seven wickets in the first ‘Super Four’ match at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on September 6.

Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh by 21 runs in the second ‘Super Four’ match at Ranasinghe Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on September 9.

India defeated Pakistan by 228 runs in the third ‘Super Four’ match at the same venue on September 11.

India beat Sri Lanka by 41 runs in the fourth ‘Super Four’ match at the same venue on September 12.

The gala final will be held at the same venue on September 17.

The winning team of the today’s match will take place in the final.

If rain washes out today’s do-or-die match, Sri Lanka will play in the final by virtue of better run rate.

Before today’s match, Pakistan faced Sri Lanka in 155 One Day International (ODI) matches.

Of them, Pakistan registered 92 victories, while Sri Lanka won in the 58 occasions, one match ended in a tie and four matches were ended without any result.

It may be mentioned that Pakistani pacers Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf are likely not to take part in the today’s crucial match due to injury.

Pakistan are set to draft in back-ups for Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah with the pace duo looking doubtful for the remainder of the Asia Cup having sustained injuries during their ‘Super Four’ stage defeat to India.

Shahnawaz Dahani and Zaman Khan will come into the squad in Sri Lanka but no decision had been made yet regarding Rauf and Naseem, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said in a statement.

“This is only a precautionary measure keeping in mind the fitness and wellbeing of the players ahead of the ICC World Cup next month and the two will continue to remain under the observation of the team’s medical panel,” the PCB said.