Sri Lanka slashes Asia Cup ticket prices to fill empty stadiums

In the eagerly awaited Super Four clash between archof the Asia Cup, rain has forced the match between arch-rivals Pakistan and India to continue on the reserve day, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Sunday.

India will resume at 147-2 on Monday in the 50-over contest, after rain disrupted their innings following Pakistan’s decision to bowl first in Colombo.

The match faced an unexpected pause earlier when rain made its presence felt, compelling officials to halt the game.

Pakistan won the toss and elected to bowl first against India in the Super Four mega clash being played in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

India got off to a good start by scoring 147 for 2 in 24.1 overs. The opening pair of Rohit Sharma and Shubam Gill provided a solid start to India by amassing 121 runs at the run rate of 7.76.

India lost their first wicket in the 17th over as skipper Rohit Sharma was sent back to the pavilion after scoring 56 runs off 49 balls.

India’s Shubman Gill fell to Shaheen Afridi in the 18th over soon after his opening partner Rohit Sharma was caught in the previous one. He scored 58 runs.

Virat Kohli and KL Rahul were at the crease when the match was stopped due to rain.

It is to be noted here that this is the second time these two teams are meeting in this tournament, with their previous encounter being disrupted due to rain. The first Pak-India match in the Asia Cup 2023 ended in no result at the Pallekele Cricket Stadium.

There is a reserve day now for this game – the only match apart from the final to have that luxury.

The cricket board announced that if inclement weather disrupts play, the match will resume on September 11 (tomorrow) from where it left off. Ticket holders have been urged to retain their tickets, as they will remain valid for the reserve day.

Playing IXs:

Pakistan: Babar Azam (capt), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Rizwan, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Agha Salman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Faheem Ashraf

India: Rohit Sharma (capt), KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj

Weather forecast

The weather in Colombo has been unpredictable in the past few days, with a significant risk of rain interrupting the game.

Despite a bright and sunny morning today, there is still a forecast for thunderstorms in the evening. The chances of rainfall at different hours throughout the day are as follows:

• 1:30 pm: 100%
• 3:30 pm: 100%
• 5:30 pm: 90%What happens if the match is stopped by rain?In case the encounter between India and Pakistan is washed out due to rain, both teams will share the spoils and be awarded one point each.

  Team form and line-ups

  Pakistan, led by Babar Azam, comes into this match with an impressive form guide (WWWWW), having won their last five completed ODIs. The team line-up includes Shadab Khan (vc), Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Salman Ali Agha, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan, Faheem Ashraf, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, and Haris Rauf.

• Earlier,

Sri Lanka Cricket slashed ticket prices for the Asia Cup by up to 95 per cent on Sunday after costs were hiked 40-fold and matches were played in near-empty stadiums.

Tickets for one-day internationals in crisis-hit Sri Lanka have generally cost around 250 rupees ($0.78) previously.

That was hiked to 10,000 rupees for the Asia Cup, which is being organised by the Pakistan Cricket Board despite largely taking place in Sri Lanka, and fans in the cricket-mad island country have stayed away in droves.

Barely 7,000 home supporters turned out for Sri Lanka’s Super Four clash against Bangladesh on Saturday at the 35,000-capacity R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, leaving the hosts facing the embarrassing sight of ranks of empty seats.

In an attempt to lure them, back Sri Lanka Cricket announced a price cut of up to 95 percent Sunday for all remaining Super Four games, including the day’s marquee clash between arch-rivals India and Pakistan, with tickets now costing as little as 500 rupees.

The stratospheric price hikes had infuriated fans.

Sri Lanka endured months of food, fuel and medicine shortages last year after a foreign exchange crunch, which sparked widespread protests culminating in the ouster of its president.

The 50-over Asia Cup is a precursor to the upcoming ODI World Cup, and most of the matches were moved to Sri Lanka after India refused to tour Pakistan due to political tensions.

“Pakistan have kept the ticket pricing too high and that has kept fans away from the stadiums,” a local Sri Lankan official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

“Ticket costs… are way beyond the reach of a common man,” he added.

“This is bizarre. We tried to reason with the PCB but they had their reasons as they have lost out on money, maybe.”

The PCB did not immediately respond to requests for comment by AFP.

‘Love of cricket’

There were still hardly any spectators Sunday for the India-Pakistan game, for which grandstand tickets were priced at a whopping 64,000 rupees ($200).

And fans were not amused.

“This is not good. We love cricket but cannot pay so much to watch a match,” Supun Vijayarathnam, a tea seller outside the Colombo stadium, told AFP.

“I have watched many matches here for just 100 and 200 rupees. But this time I have to watch it on TV and just hear the noise, which of course is less.”

Fans travelled from both India and Pakistan for the hotly anticipated clash after their first meeting was washed out in Pallekele.

“We paid 16,000 Sri Lankan rupees for this game. We were there in Kandy as well and had to pay 15,000 there,” Arun Kumar Yadav, from the northern Indian city of Lucknow, told AFP.

“The prices are too high from the last time that we came here,” added the 35-year-old. “But it’s the love of cricket.”

A street vendor selling India and Pakistan jerseys and flags said that despite the game being a blockbuster, there were “fewer fans and the buzz is less”.