Asia Cup 2023, PAK vs BAN: In what has already been a rain-affected Asia Cup 2023, the Super Fours match between Pakistan and Bangladesh at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore was delayed by a floodlight failure. The incident happened during Pakistan's run-chase of 194. While Bangladesh were bowled out for 193 after having won the toss and elected to bat, Pakistan were 15/0 after 5 overs when one of the floodlights at the stadium went off. Play had to be stopped as efforts were made to bring the lights on.
As it turned out, it took around 15 minutes for the resumption of play. This is not the first time such an incident has happened on the cricket field. However, the ongoing Asia Cup has already seen quite a few delayed games due to rain in Sri Lanka. The floodlight failure induced delay adds to the list and does not paint a nice picture.
Notably, this is the first match of the Super Fours stage of the competition. While Pakistan and India secured a place for themselves in this round of the tournament from Group A, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were the two teams to qualify from Group B. Nepal lost both their matches in Group A by convincing margins but Group B was evenly contested with Afghanistan narrowly missing out on a qualification berth after their loss against Sri Lanka on Tuesday (September 5).
As soon as India and Pakistan sealed a placed for themselves in Super Fours, IND vs PAK Round 2 in Asia Cup 2023 was confirmed with the match scheduled to take place on September 10 in Colombo. In case of an IND-PAK final, they would meet again at the same venue on September 17. India vs Pakistan ODI World Cup fixture is slated at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on October 14.